University  of  California  •  Berkeley 


JACOB   STROYER. 


MY  LIFE  IN  THE  SOUTH. 


BY 

JACOB  STROYER. 


NEW  AND  ENLARGED  EDITION. 


SALEM,  MASS.: 
NEWCOMB  &  GAUSS,  PRINTERS. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  iu  the  year  1879,  by  JACOB 
STROYER,  in  the  office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress  at  Wash 
ington,  D.  C. 


FOURTH  EDITION 


Kev.  Jacob  Stroyer's  book  is  intensely  interesting, 
because  it  is  a  story  of  personal  experience.  It  is 
also  a  book  of  great  educational  worth,  because  it 
deals  plainly  and  justly  with  slavery,  as  that  institu 
tion  existed  both  in  time  of  peace  and  in  time  of 
war,  from  the  standpoint  of  one  who  was  himself  a 
slave. 

C.  H.  PUFFER, 

Pastor  First  Universalist  Church. 
Salem,  Mass.,  Nov.  9,  1898. 


The  author  of  this  book — Mr.  Stroyer — has  been 
for  years  a  worthy  resident  of  this  city,  doing  an  ex 
cellent  work  among  the  colored  people.  His  story, 
graphically  told,  is  one  of  many  which  must  interest 
every  lover  of  the  Nation's  history,  in  both  its  dark 
and  bright  pages. 

DE  WITT  S.  CLARK,  Salem. 


OCT.  25,  1898. 

Mr.  Stroyer's  account  of  his  experiences  in  the 
War  of  the  Rebellion  is  history  at  first  hand.  And 
his  point  of  view  is  one  from  which  little  has  been 
written.  There  have  been  any  number  of  accounts  by 
observers  in  both  the  Federal  and  the  Confederate 
ranks.  But  not  many  have  come  from  Jhe  slaves  who 
were  forced  to  work  against  a  cause  which  they  knew 
was  their  own.  This  fact  gives  Mr.  Stroyer's  narra 
tive  an  uncommon  interest.  I  take  pleasure  in  com. 
mending  Mr.  Stoyer  as  an  earnest  and  worthy  Chris 
tian  man,  who  has  deeply  at  heart  the  welfare  of  his 
people. 

JAS.  F.  BRODIE. 

(3) 


SALEM,  MASS.,  September  19,  1898. 
Mr.  Stroyer's  accoimt  of  his  experience  in  slavery 
and  during  the  war  is  of  great  interest  and  value  as  a 
trustworthy  description  of  the  condition  and  life  of 
slaves  by  one  of  themselves.  His  memory  is  remark 
ably  keen  and  his  natrative  vivid  and  at  times  both 
touching  and  thrilling.  The  book  is  a  great  credit  to 
its  author  and  deserves  a  generous  reception  and  a 
wide  circulation. 

JOHN  WRIGHT  BUCKHAM. 


AUGUST  13,  1879. 

In  this  book  Mr.  Stroyer  has  given  us,  with  a  most 
simple  and  effective  realism,  the  inside  view  of  the 
institution  of  slavery.  It  is  worth  reading,  to  know 
how  men,  intelligent  enough  to  report  their  experi 
ence,  felt  under  the  yoke.  The  time  has  come  when 
American  slavery  can  be  studied  historically,  without 
passion,  save  such  as  mixes  itself  with  the  wonder 
that  so  great  an  evil  could  exist  so  long  as  a  social 
form  or  a  political  idol.  The  time  has  not  come  when 
such  study  is  unnecessary;  for  to  deal  justly  by  white 
or  black  in  the*  United  States,  their  previous  relations 
must  be  understood,  and  nothing  which  casts  light  on 
the  most  universal  and  practical  of  those  relations  is 
without  value  today.  ( I  take  pleasure,  therefore,  in 
saying  that  I  consider  Mr.  Stroyer  a  competent  and 
trustworthy  witness  to  these  details  of  plantation 
life. 

E.  C.  BOLLES. 

(4) 


CITY  OF  SALEM,  MAYOR'S  OFFICE,) 
Nov.  5,  1884.          > 

This  is  to  certify  that  since  the  year  1876  I  have 
known  Rev.  Jacob  Stroyer  as  a  preacher  and  minister 
to  the  colored  people  of  this  city.  He  is  earnest, 
devoted  and  faithful. 

He  is  endeavoring  by  the  sale  of  this  book  to  realize 
the  means  to  enable  him,  by  a  course  of  study,  to  bet 
ter  fit  himself  as  a  minister  to  preach  in  the  South. 

I  most  cheerfully  commend  him  in  his  praiseworthy 
efforts. 

WM.  M.  HILL,  Mayor. 


Mr.  Stroyer 's  book  is  a  setting  forth  in  a  fresh  and 
unique  manner  of  the  old  and  bitter  wrongs  of 
American  slavery.  It  is  an  inside  view  of  a  phase  of 
our  national  life  which  has  happily  passed  away  for 
ever.  Although  it  concerns  itself  largely  with  inci 
dents  and  details,  it  is  not  without  the  historical 
value  which  attaches  to  reliable  personal  reminis 
cences.  The  author  has  made  commendable  progress 
in  intellectual  culture,  and  is  worthy  of  generous 
assistance  in  his  effort  to  fit  himself  still  more  per 
fectly  for  labor  among  his  needy  brethren  in  the 
South. 

E.  S.  ATWOOD. 
(5) 


PREFACE. 
FOURTH  EDITION. 

When  the  author  first  presented  his  book  to  the 
public  he  did  not  anticipate  the  very  great  favor  with 
which  it  would  be  received.  The  first  edition  was 
soon  disposed  of,  a  second  and  a  third  were  called  for, 
and  those  were  as  generously  received  as  had  been 
their  predecessors.  The  present  edition,  the  fourth, 
besides  all  that  was  in  those  former  publications,  con 
tains  some  new  material  relating  to  the  author's  per 
sonal  experiences  in  the  Civil  War. 

Thanking  the  people  for  the  support  given,  and 
hoping  that  this  latest  effort  will  meet  approval,  the 
author  presents  the  story  of  himself  and  his  once  op 
pressed  brethren. 


(6) 


CHAPTER  I. 

My  father  was  born  in  Sierra  Leone,  Africa.  Of 
his  parents  and  his  brothers  and  sisters  I  know  noth 
ing.  I  only  remember  that  it  was  said  that  his 
father's  name  was  Moncoso,  and  his  mother's  Mongo- 
mo,  which  names  are  known  only  among  the  native 
Africans.  He  was  brought  from  Africa  when  but  a 
boy,  and  sold  to  old  Colonel  Dick  Singleton,  who 
owned  a  great  many  plantations  in  South  Carolina, 
and  when  the  old  colonel  divided  his  property  among 
his  children,  father  fell  to  the  second  son,  Col.  M.  R. 
Singleton. 

Mother  never  was  sold,  but  her  parents  were  ;  they 
were  owned  by  one  Mr.  Crough,  who  sold  them  and 
the  rest  of  the  slaves,  with  the  plantation,  to  Col. 
Dick  Singleton,  upon  whose  place  mother  was  born. 
I  was  born  on  this  extensive  plantation,  twenty-eight 
miles  southeast  of  Columbia,  South  Carolina,  in  the 
year  1849.  I  belonged  to  Col.  M.  R.  Singleton,  and 
was  held  in  slavery  up  to  the  time  of  the  emancipa 
tion  proclamation  issued  by  President  Lincoln. 

THE    CHILDREN. 

My  father  bad  fifteen  children  :  four  boys  and  three 
girls  by  his  first  wife  and  eight  by  his  second.  Their 
names  were  as  follows  :  of  the  boys — Toney,  Aszer- 
ine,  Duke  and  Dezine  ;  of  the  girls — Violet,  Priscilla, 
and  Lydia.  Those  of  his  second  wife  were  as  follows : 
Footy,  Embrus,  Caleb,  Mitchell,  Cuffey  and  Jacob, 
and  of  the  girls,  Catherine  and  Retta. 

(7) 


8 

SAND    HJLL    DAYS. 

Col.  M.  R.  Singleton  was  like  many  other  rich 
slave  owners  in  the  South,  who  had  summer  seats 
four,  six  or  eight  miles  from  the  plantation,  where 
they  carried  the  little  negro  boys  and  girls  too  small 
to  work. 

Our  summer  seat,  or  the  sand  hill,  as  the  slaves 
used  to  call  it,  was  four  miles  from  the  plantation- 
Among  the  four  hundred  and  sixty-five  slaves  owned 
by  the  colonel  there  were  a  great  many  children. 
If  my  readers  had  visited  Col.  Singleton's  plantation 
the  last  of  May  or  the  first  of  June  in  the  days  of 
slavery,  they  would  have  seen  three  or  four  large 
plantation  wagons  loaded  with  little  negroes  of  both 
sexes,  of  various  complexions  and  conditions,  who 
were  being  carried  to  this  summer  residence,  and 
among  them  they  would  have  found  the  author  of 
this  little  work  in  his  sand-hill  days. 

My  readers  would  naturally  ask  how  many  seasons 
these  children  were  taken  to  the  summer  seats  ?  I 
answer,  until,  in  the  judgment  of  the  overseer,  they 
were  large  enough  to  work ;  then  they  were  kept  at 
the  plantation.  How  were  they  fed  ?  There  were 
three  or  four  women  who  were  too  old  to  work  on  the 
plantation  who  were  sent  as  nurses  to  the  summer 
seats  with  the  children;  they  did  the  cooking.  The 
way  in  which  these  old  women  cooked  for  80,  and 
sometimes  150  children,  in  my  sand-hill  days,  was 
this : — they  had  two  or  three  large  pots,  which  held 
about  a  bushel  each,  in  which  they  used  to  cook  corn 
flour,  stirred  with  large  wooden  paddles.  The  food 
was  dealt  out  with  the  paddles  into  each  child's  little 
wooden  tray  or  tin  pail,  which  was  furnished  by  the 
parents  according  to  their  ability. 


With  this  corn  flour,  which  the  slaves  called  mush, 
each  child  used  to  get  a  gill  of  sour  milk  brought 
daily  from  the  plantation  in  a  large  wooden  pail  on 
the  head  of  a  boy  or  man.  We  children  used  to  like 
the  sour  milk,  or  hard  clabber  as  it  was  called  by 
the  slaves ;  but  that  seldom  changed  diet,  namely  the 
mush,  was  hated  worse  than  medicine.  Our  hatred 
was  increased  against  the  mush  from  the  fact  that 
they  used  to  give  us  molasses  to  eat  with  it,  instead 
of  clabber.  The  hateful  mixture  made  us  anxious  for 
Sundays  to  come,  when  our  mothers,  fathers,  sisters 
and  brothers  would  bring  something  from  the  planta 
tion,  which,  however  poor,  we  considered  very  nice, 
compared  with  what  we  had  during  the  week  days. 
Among  the  many  desirable  things  our  parents  brought 
us  the  most  delightful  was  cow  pease,  rice,  and  a 
piece  of  bacon,  cooked  together ;  the  mixture  was 
called  by  the  slaves  "hopping  John." 

THE    STORY   OF    GILBERT. 

A  few  large  boys  were  sent  yearly  to  the  sand-hill 
among  the  smaller  ones,  as  guides.  At  the  time  to 
which  I  am  referring  there  was  one  by  the  name  of 
Gilbert,  who  used  to  go  around  with  the  smaller 
boys  in  the  woods  to  gather  bushes  and  sticks  for  the 
old  women  to  cook  our  food  with. 

Gilbert  was  a  cruel  boy.  He  used  to  strip  his  little 
fellow  negroes  while  in  the  woods,  and  whip  them 
two  or  three  times  a  week,  so  that  their  backs  were 
all  scarred,  and  threatened  them  with  severer  punish 
ment  if  they  told  ;  this  state  of  things  had  been  going 
on  for  quite  a  while.  As  I  was  a  favorite  with  Gil 
bert,  I  always  had  managed  to  escape  a  whipping, 


10 

with  the  promise  of  keeping  the  secret  of  the  punish 
ment  of  the  rest,  which  I  did,  not  so  much  that  I  was 
afraid  of  Gilbert,  as  because  I  always  was  inclined  to 
mind  my  own  business.     But  finally,  one  day,  Gilbert 
said  to  me,  "Jake,"  as  he  used  to  call  me,  "you  am 
a  good  boy,  but  I'm  gwine  to  wip  you  some  to-day,  as 
I  wip  dem  toder  boys."     Of  course  I  was  required  to 
strip  off  my  only  garment,   which  was  an  Osnaburg 
linen  shirt,  worn  by  both  sexes  of  the  negro  children 
in  the  summer.     As  I  stood  trembling  before  my  mer 
ciless  superior,   who  had  a  switch  in  his  hand,  thou 
sands  of  thoughts  went  through  my  little  mind  as  to 
how  to  get  rid  of  the  whipping.    I  finally  fell  upon  a 
plan  which  I  hoped  would  save  me  from  a  punishment 
that  was  near  at  hand.     There  were  some  carpenters 
in  the  woods,  some  distance  from  us,  hewing  timber  ; 
they  were  far  away,  but  it  was  a  clear  morning,  so  we 
could  hear  their  voices  and  the  sound  of  the  axes. 
Having  resolved  in  my  mind  what  I  would  do.  I  com 
menced  reluctantly  to  take  off  my  shirt,   at  the  same 
time  pleading  with  Gilbert,   who  paid  no  attention  to 
my  prayer,  but  said,  "  Jake,  I  is  gwine  to  wip  you  to 
day  as  I  did  dem  toder  boys."     Having  satisfied  my 
self  that  no  mercy  was  to   be  found   with  Gilbert,  I 
drew  my  shirt  off  and  threw  it  over  his  head,  and 
bounded  forward  on  a  run  in  the  direction  of   the 
sound  of  the  carpenters.     By  the  time  he  got  from 
the  entanglement  of  my  garment,  I  had  quite  a  little 
start   of  him.     Between   my   starting  point  and  the 
place  where  the  carpenters  were  at  work  I  jumped 
over  some  bushes  five  or  six  feet  high.     Gilbert  soon 
gained  upon  me,  and  sometimes  touched  me  with  his 
hands,  but  as  I  had  on  nothing  for  him  to  hold  to,  he 


11 

could  not  take  hold  of  me.  As  I  began  to  come  in 
sight  of  the  carpenters,  Gilbert  begged  me  not  to  go 
to  them,  for  he  knew  that  it  would  be  bad  for  him, 
but  as  that  was  not  a  time  for  me  to  listen  to  his  en 
treaties,  I  moved  on  faster.  As  I  got  near  to  the  car 
penters,  one  of  them  ran  and  met  me,  into  whose 
arms  I  jumped.  The  man  into  whose  arms  I  ran  was 
Uncle  Benjamin,  my  mother's  uncle.  As  he  clasped 
me  in  his  arms,  he  said,  "  Bres  de  Lo,  my  son,  wat  is 
de  matter  ?"  But  I  was  so  exhausted  that  it  was 
quite  a  while  before  I  could  tell  him  my  trouble  ; 
when  recovered  from  my  breathless  condition,  I  told 
him  that  Gilbert  had  been  in  the  habit  of  stripping 
the  boys  and  whipping  them  two  or  three  times  a 
week,  when  we  went  into  the  woods,  and  threatened 
them  with  greater  punishment  if  they  told.  I  said 
he  had  never  whipped  me  before,  but  I  was  cautioned 
to  keep  the  secret,  which  I  had  done  up  to  this  time ; 
but  he  said  he  was  going  to  whip  me  this  morning,  so 
I  threw  my  shirt  over  his  head  and  ran  here  for  pro 
tection.  Gilbert  did  not  follow  me  after  I  got  in 
sight  of  the  carpenters,  but  sneaked  away.  Of  course 
my  body  was  all  bruised  and  scratched  by  the  bushes. 
Acting  as  a  guide  for  Uncle  Benjamin,  I  took  him  to 
where  I  had  left  my  garment. 

At  this  time  the  children  were  scattered  around  in 
the  woods,  waiting  for  what  the  trouble  would  bring  ; 
They  all  were  gathered  up  and  taken  to  the  sand-hill 
house,  examined,  and  it  was  found,  as  I  have  stated, 
that  their  backs  were  all  scarred.  Gilbert  was  brought 
to  trial,  severely  whipped,  and  they  made  him 
beg  all  the  children  to  pardon  him  for  his  treat 
ment  to  them.  But  he  never  was  allowed  to  go  into 


12 

the  woods  with  the  rest  of  the  children  during  that 
season.  My  sand-hill  associates  always  thanked  me 
for  the  course  I  took,  which  saved  them  and  myself 
from  further  punishment  by  him. 

MASTER    AND    MISTRESS    VISITING. 

When  master  and  mistress  were  to  visit  their  little 
negroes  at  the  sand-hill,  the  news  was  either  brought 
by  the  overseer  who  resided  at  the  above  named 
place,  and  went  back  and  forth  to  the  plantation,  or 
by  one  of  master's  house  servants,  a  day  ahead.  The 
preparation  required  to  receive  our  white  guests  was 
that  each  little  negro  was  to  be  washed,  and  clad  in 
the  best  dress  he  or  she  had.  But  before  this  was 
done,  the  unsuccessful  attempt  was  made  to  straighten 
out  our  unruly  wools  with  some  small  cards,  or  Jim- 
Crows  as  we  called  them. 

On  one  occasion  an  old  lady,  by  the  name  of 
Janney  Cuteron,  attempted  to  straighten  out  my  wool 
with  one  of  those  Jim-crows  ;  as  she  hitched  the  teeth 
of  the  instrument  in  my  unyielding  wool  with  her 
great  masculine  hand,  of  course  I  was  jerked  flat  on 
my  back.  This  was  the  common  fate  of  most  of  my 
associates,  whose  wools  were  of  the  same  nature,  but 
with  a  little  water  and  the  strong  application  of  the 
Jim-crow,  the  old  lady  soon  combed  out  my  wool  into 
some  sort  of  shape. 

As  our  preparations  were  generally  completed  three- 
quarters  of  an  hour  before  our  guests  came,  we  were 
placed  in  line,  the  boys  together  and  the  girls  by 
themselves.  We  were  then  drilled  in  the  art  of 
addressing  our  expected  visitors.  The  boys  were  re 
quired  to  bend  the  body  forward  with  head  down,  and 


13 

rest  the  body  on  the  left  foot,  and  scrape  the  right 
foot  backward  on  the  ground,  while  uttering  the 
words,  "how  dy  Massie  and  Missie."  The  girls  were 
required  to  use  the  same  words,  accompanied  with  a 
courtesy.  But  when  Master  and  Mistress  had  left, 
the  little  African  wools  were  neglected  until  the  news 
of  their  next  visit. 

Our  sand-hill  days  were  very  pleasant,  outside  of  the 
seldom  changed  diet,  namely  the  mush,  which  we  had 
sometimes  to  eat  with  molasses,  the  treatment  of 
Gilbert,  and  the  attempt  to  straighten  out  our  unruly 
wools. 

I  said  that  my  father  was  brought  from  Africa  when 
but  a  boy,  and  was  sold  to  old  Col.  Dick  Singleton  ; 
and  when  the  children  were  of  age,  the  Colonel  divided 
his  plantations  among  them,  and  father  fell  to  Col. 
M.  K.  Singleten,  who  was  the  second  son. 

On  this  large  plantation  there  were  465  slaves ;  there 
were  not  so  many  when  it  was  given  to  Col.  M.  R., 
but  increased  to  the  above  stated  number,  up  to  the 
time  of  emancipation. 

My  father  was  not  a  field  hand  ;  my  first  recollec 
tion  of  him  was  that  he  used  to  take  care  of  hogs  and 
cows  in  the  swamp,  and  when  too  old  for  that  work  he 
was  sent  to  the  plantation  to  take  care  of  horses  and 
mules,  as  master  had  a  great  many  for  the  use  of  his 
farm. 

I  have  stated  that  father  said  that  his  father's 
name  in  Africa  was  Moncoso,  and  his  mother's  Mon- 
gomo,  but  I  never  learned  what  name  he  went  by 
before  he  was  brought  to  this  country.  I  only  know 
that  he  stated  that  Col.  Dick  Singleton  gave  him  the 
name  of  William,  by  which  he  was  known  up  to  the 


14 

day  of  his  death.  Father  had  a  surname,  Stroyer, 
which  he  could  not  use  in  public,  as  the  surname 
Stroyer  would  be  against  the  law  ;  he  was  known  only 
by  the  name  of  William  Singleton,  because  that  was 
his  master's  name.  So  the  title  Stroyer  was  forbidden 
him,  and  could  be  used  only  by  his  children  after  the 
emancipation  of  the  slaves. 

There  were  two  reasons  given  by  the  slave  holders 
why  they  did  not  allow  a  slave  to  use  his  own  name, 
but  rather  that  of  the  master.  The  first  was  that,  if 
he  ran  away,  he  would  not  be  so  easily  detected  by 
using  his  own  name  as  by  that  of  his  master.  The 
second  was  that  to  allow  him  to  use  his  own  name 
would  be  sharing  an  honor  which  was  due  only  to  his 
master,  and  that  would  be  too  much  for  a  negro,  said 
they,  who  was  nothing  more  than  a  servant.  So  it 
was  held  as  a  crime  for  a  slave  to  be  caught  using  his 
own  name,  a  crime  which  would  expose  him  to  severe 
punishment.  But  thanks  be  to  God  that  those  days 
have  passed,  and  we  now  live  under  the  sun  of  liberty. 

MOTHER. 

Mother's  name  was  Chloe.  She  belonged  to  Col. 
M.  K.  Singleton  too  ;  she  was  a  field  hand,  and  never 
was  sold,  but  her  parents  were  once. 

Mr.  Crough  who,  as  I  have  said  had  owned  this 
plantation  on  which  mother  lived,  had  sold  the  plan 
tation  to  Col.  Dick  Singleton,  with  mother's  parents 
on  it,  before  she  was  born. 

Most  of  the  family  from  which  mother  came,  had 
trades  of  some  kind;  some  were  carpenters,  some 
were  blacksmiths,  some  house  servants,  and  others 
were  made  drivers  over  the  other  negroes.  Of  course 


15 

the  negro  drivers  would  be  under  a  white  man,  who 
was  called  the  overseer.  Sometimes  the  negro  drivers 
were  a  great  deal  worse  to  their  fellow  negroes  than 
were  the  white  men. 

Mother  had  an  uncle  by  the  name  of  Esau,  whom 
master  thought  more  of  than  he  did  of  the  overseer. 
Uncle  Esau  was  more  cruel  than  was  any  white  man 
master  ever  had  on  his  plantation.  Many  of  the 
slaves  used  to  run  away  from  him  into  the  woods.  I 
have  known  some  of  the  negroes  to  run  away  from  the 
cruel  treatment  of  Uncle  Esau,  and  to  stay  off  eight 
or  ten  months.  They  were  so  afraid  of  him  that  they 
used  to  say  that  they  would  rather  see  the  devil  than 
to  see  him ;  they  were  glad  when  he  died.  But  while 
so  much  was  said  of  Uncle  Esau,  which  was  also  true 
of  many  other  negro  drivers,  the  overseers  themselves 
were  not  guiltless  of  cruelty  to  the  defenceless  slaves. 

I  have  said  that  most  of  the  family  from  which 
mother  came  had  trades  of  some  kind  ;  but  she  had  to 
take  her  chance  in  the  field  with  those  who  had  to 
weather  the  storm.  But  my  readers  are  not  to  think 
that  those  whom  I  have  spoken  of  as  having  trades 
were  free  from  punishment,  for  they  were  not ;  some 
of  them  had  more  trouble  than  had  the  field  hands. 
At  times  the  overseer,  who  was  a  white  man,  would 
go  to  the  shop  of  the  blacksmith,  or  carpenter,  and 
would  pick  a  quarrel  with  him,  so  as  to  get  an  oppor 
tunity  to  punish  him.  He  would  say  to  the  negro, 
"  Oh,  ye  think  yourself  as  good  as  ye  master,  ye — " 
Of  course  he  knew  what  the  overseer  was  after,  so  he 
was  afraid  to  speak  ;  the  overseer,  hearing  no  answer, 
would  turn  to  him  and  cry  out,  "ye  so  big  ye  can't 
speak  to  me,  ye—,"  and  then  the  conflict  would  begin, 


16 

and  he  would  give  that  man  such  a  punishment  as 
would  disable  him  for  two  or  three  months.  The 
merciless  overseer  would  say  to  him,  "  Ye  think  be 
cause  ye  have  a  trade  ye  are  as  good  as  ye  master,  ye 
— ;  but  I  will  show  ye  that  ye  are  nothing  but  a 
nigger." 

I  said  that  my  father  had  two  wives  and  fifteen 
children  :  four  boys  and  three  girls  by  the  first,  and 
six  boys  and  two  girls  by  the  second  wife.  Of  course 
he  did  not  marry  his  wives  as  they  do  now,  as  it  was 
not  allowed  among  the  slaves,  but  he  took  them  as  his 
wives  by  mutual  agreement.  He  had  my  mother 
after  the  death  of  his  first  wife.  I  am  the  third  son 
of  his  second  wife. 

My  readers  would  very  naturally  like  to  know 
whether  some  of  the  slaves  did  not  have  more  than 
one  woman.  I  answer,  they  had  ;  for  as  they  had  no 
law  to  bind  them  to  one  woman,  they  could  have  as 
many  as  they  pleased  by  mutual  agreement.  But 
notwithstanding,  they  had  a  sense  of  the  moral  law, 
for  many  of  them  felt  that  it  was  right  to  have  but 
one  woman  ;  they  had  different  opinions  about  plural 
ity  of  wives,  as  have  the  most  educated  and  refined 
among  the  whites. 

I  met  one  of  my  fellow  negroes  one  day,  who  lived 
next  neighbor  to  us,  and  I  said  to  him,  "  Well,  Uncle 
William,  how  are  you,  to-day  ?''*  His  answer  was 
"  Thank  God,  my  son,  I  have  two  wives  now,  and 
must  try  and  make  out  with  them  until  I  get  some 
more."  But  while  you  will  find  many  like  him, 
others  would  rebuke  the  idea  of  having  more  than  one 
wife.  But,  thanks  be  to  God,  the  day  has  come  when 
no  one  need  to  plead  ignorance,  for  master  and  ser 
vant  are  both  bound  bv  the  same  law. 


17 

I  did  not  go  to  the  sand-hill,  or  summer  seat,  my 
alloted  time,  but  stopped  on  the  plantation  with 
father,  as  I  said  that  he  used  to  take  care  of  horses 
and  mules.  I  was  around  with  him  in  the  barn  yard 
when  but  a  very  small  boy  ;  of  course  that  gave  me 
an  early  relish  for  the  occupation  of  hostler,  and  I 
soon  made  known  my  preference  to  Col.  Singleton, 
who  was  a  sportsman,  and  an  owner  of  fine  horses. 
And,  although  I  was  too  small  to  work,  the  Colonel 
granted  my  request ;  hence  I  was  allowed  to  be  num 
bered  among  those  who  took  care  of  the  fine  horses, 
and  learned  to  ride.  But  I  soon  found  that  my  new 
occupation  demanded  a  little  more  than  I  cared  for. 

It  was  not  long  after  I  had  entered  my  new  work 
before  they  put  me  upon  the  back  of  a  horse  which 
threw  me  to  the  ground  almost  as  soon  as  I  had 
reached  his  back.  It  hurt  me  a  little,  but  that  was 
not  the  worst  of  it,  for  when  I  got  up  there  was  a 
man  standing  near  with  a  switch  in  hand,  and  he  im 
mediately  began  to  beat  me.  Although  I  was  a  very 
bad  boy,  this  was  the  first  time  I  had  been  whipped  by 
any  one  except  father  and  mother,  so  I  cried  out  in  a 
tone  of  voice  as  if  I  would  say,  this  is  the  first  and 
last  whipping  you  will  give  me  when  father  gets  hold 
of  you. 

When  I  had  got  away  from  him  I  ran  to  father  with 
all  my  might,  but  soon  found  my  expectation  blasted, 
as  father  very  coolly  said  to  me,  "  Go  back  to  your 
work  and  be  a  good  boy,  for  I  cannot  do  anything  for 
you."  But  that  did  not  satisfy  me,  so  on  I  went  to 
mother  with  my  complaint  and  she  came  out  to  the 
man  who  had  whipped  me  ;  he  was  a  groom,  a  white 
man  master  had  hired  to  train  the  horses.  Mother 


18 

and  he  began  to  talk,  then  he  took  a  whip  and 
started  for  her,  and  she  ran  from  him,  talking  all  the 
time.  I  ran  back  and  forth  between  mother  and  him 
until  he  stopped  beating  her.  After  the  fight  between 
the  groom  and  mother,  he  took  me  back  to  the  stable 
yard  and  gave  me  a  severe  flogging.  And,  although 
mother  failed  to  help  me  at  first,  still  I  had  faith  that 
when  he  had  taken  me  back  to  the  stable  yard,  and 
commenced  whipping  me,  she  would  come  and  stop 
him,  but  I  looked  in  vain,  for  she  did  not  corne. 

Then  the  idea  first  came  to  me  that  I,  with  my  dear 
father  and  mother  and  the  rest  of  my  fellow  negroes, 
was  doomed  to  cruel  treatment  through  life,  and  was 
defenceless.  But  when  I  found  that  father  and 
mother  could  not  save  me  from  punishment,  as  they 
themselves  had  to  submit  to  the  same  treatment,  I 
concluded  to  appeal  to  the  sympathy  of  the  groom, 
who  seemed  to  have  full  control  over  me;  but  my 
pitiful  cries  never  touched  his  sympathy,  for  things 
seemed  to  grow  worse  rather  than  better  ;  so  I  made 
up  my  mind  to  stem  the  storm  the  best  I  could. 

I  have  said  that  Col.  Singleton  had  fine  horses, 
which  he  kept  for  racing,  and  he  owned  two  very 
noted  ones,  named  Capt.  Miner  and  Inspector.  Per 
haps  some  of  my  readers  have  already  heard  of  Gapt. 
Miner,  for  he  was  widely  known,  having  won  many 
races  in  Charlestown  and  Columbia,  S.  C.,  also  in 
Augusta,  Ga.,  and  New  York.  He  was  a  dark  bay, 
with  short  tail.  Inspector  was  a  chestnut  sorrel,  and 
had  the  reputation  of  being  a  very  great  horse.  These 
two  horses  have  won  many  thousand  dollars  for  the 
the  colonel.  I  rode  these  two  horses  a  great  many 
times  in  their  practice  gallops,  but  never  had  the  op- 


19 

portunity  to  ride  them  in  a  race  before  Col.  Singleton 
died,  for  he  did  not  live  long  after  I  had  learned  so 
that  I  could  ride  for  money.  The  custom  was,  that 
when  a  boy  had  learned  the  trade  of  a  rider,  he  would 
have  to  ride  what  was  known  as  a  trial,  in  the  pres 
ence  of  a  judge,  who  would  approve  or  disapprove  his 
qualifications  to  be  admitted  as  a  race  rider,  accord 
ing  to  the  jockey  laws  of  South  Carolina  at  that  time. 

I  have  said  that  I  loved  the  business  and  acquired 
the  skill  very  early,  and  this  enabled  me  to  pass  my 
examination  creditably,  and  to  be  accepted  as  a  capa 
ble  rider,  but  I  passed  through  some  very  severe  treat 
ment  before  reaching  that  point. 

This  white  man  who  trained  horses  for  Col.  Single 
ton  was  named  Boney  Young ;  he  had  a  brother 
named  Charles,  who  trained  for  the  colonel's  brother, 
John  Singleton.  Charles  was  a  good  man,  but  Boney 
our  trainer,  was  as  mean  as  Charles  was  good  ;  he 
could  smile  in  the  face  of  one  who  was  suffering  the 
most  painful  death  at  his  hands. 

One  day,  about  two  weeks  after  Boney  Young  and 
mother  had  the  conflict,  he  called  me  to  him,  as 
though  he  were  in  the  pleasantest  mood  ;  he  was  sing 
ing.  I  ran  to  him  as  if  to  say  by  action,  I  will  do 
anything  you  bid  me,  willingly.  When  I  got  to  him 
he  said,  "Go  and  bring  me  a  switch,  sir."  I  answered, 
"  yes,  sir,"  and  off  I  went  and  brought  him  one ;  then 
he  said,  "  come  in1  here,  sir  ;"  I  answered,  "yes,  sir ;" 
and  I  went  into  a  horse's  stall,  but  while  I  was  going 
in  a  thousand  thoughts  passed  through  my  mind  as  to 
what  he  wanted  me  to  go  into  the  stall  for,  but  when 
I  had  got  in  I  soon  learned,  for  he  gave  me  a  first- 
class  flogging. 


20 

A  day  or  to  after  that  he  called  me  in  the  same 
way,  and  I  went  again,  and  he  sent  me  for  a  switch. 
I  brought  him  a  short  stubble  that  was  worn  out, 
which  he  took  and  beat  me  on  the  head  with.  Then  he 
said  to  me,  "  Go  and  bring  me  a  switch,  sir  ; "  I  an 
swered  "  Yes,  sir  ;  "  and  off  I  went  the  second  time, 
and  brought  him  one  very  little  better  than  the  first ; 
he  broke  that  over  my  head  also*  saying,  "  Go  and 
bring  me  a  switch,  sir; "  I  answered,  "  Yes,  sir,"  and 
off  I  went  the  third  time,  and  brought  one  which  I 
supposed  would  suit  him.  Then  he  said  to  me,  "  Come 
in  here,  sir."  I  answered,  "  Yes,  sir."  When  I  went 
into  the  stall,  he  told  me  to  lie  down,  and  I  stooped 
down ;  he  kicked  me  around  for  a  while,  then,  mak 
ing  me  lie  on  my  face,  he  whipped  me  to  his  satisfac 
tion. 

That  evening  when  I  went  home  to  father  and 
mother,  I  said  to  them,  "  Mr.  Young  is  whipping  me 
too  much  now,  I  shall  not  stand  it,  I  shall  fight  him." 
Father  said  to  me,  "  You  must  not  do  that,  because  if 
you  do  he  will  say  that  your  mother  and  I  advised 
you  to  do  it,  and  it  will  make  it  hard  for  your  mother 
and  me,  as  well  as  for  yourself.  You  must  do  as  I 
told  you,  my  son  :  do  your  work  the  best  you  can,  and 
do  not  say  anything."  I  said  to  father,  <<  But  I  don't 
know  what  I  have  done  that  he  should  whip  me  ;  he 
does  not  tell  me  what  wrong  I  have  done,  he  simply 
calls  me  to  him  and  whips  me  when  he  gets  ready." 
Father  said,  "  I  can  do  nothing  more  than  to  pray  to 
the  Lord  to  hasten  the  time  when  these  things  shall 
be  done  away  ;  that  is  all  I  can  do."  When  mother 
had  stripped  me  and  looked  at  the  wounds  that  were 
upon  me  she  burst  into  tears,  and  said,  "  If  he  were 


21 

not  so  small  I  would  not  mind  it  so  much ;  this  will 
break  his  constitution  ;  I  am  going  to  master  about 
it,  because  I  know  he  will  not  allow  Mr.  Young  to 
treat  this  child  so. 

And  I  thought  to  myself  that  had  mother  gone  to 
master  about  it,  it  would  have  helped  me  some,  for  he 
and  she  had  grown  up  together  and  he  thought  a  great 
deal  of  her.  But  father  said  to  mother,  "  You  better 
not  go  to  master,  for  while  he  might  stop  the  child 
from  being  treated  badly,  Mr.  Young  may  revenge 
himself  through  the  overseer,  for  you  know  that  they 
are  very  friendly  to  each  other."  So  said  father  to 
mother,  "  You  would  gain  nothing  in  the  end  ;  the 
best  thing  for  us  to  do  is  to  pray  much  over  it,  for  I 
believe  that  the  time  will  come  when  this  boy  with 
the  rest  of  the  children  will  be  free,  though  we  may 
not  live  to  see  it." 

When  father  spoke  of  liberty  his  words  were  of 
great  comfort  to  me,  and  my  heart  swelled  with  the 
hope  of  a  future,  which  made  every  moment  seem  an 
hour  to  me. 

Father  had  a  rule,  which  was  strictly  carried  out  as 
far  as  possible  under  the  slave  law,  which  was  to  put 
his  children  to  bed  early ;  but  that  night  the  whole 
family  sat  up  late,  while  father  and  mother  talked 
over  the  matter.  It  was  a  custom  among  the  slaves 
not  to  allow  their  children  under  certain  ages  to  enter 
into  conversation  with  them  ;  hence  we  could  take  no 
part  with  father  and  mother.  As  I  was  the  object  of 
their  sympathy,  I  was  allowed  the  privilege  of  an 
swering  the  questions  about  the  whipping  the  groom 
gave  me. 

When  the  time  came  for  us  to  go  to  bed  we  all 


22 

knelt  down  in  family  prayer,  as  was  our  custom  ; 
father's  prayer  seemed  more  real  to  me  that  night 
than  ever  before,  especially  in  the  words,  "  Lord,  has 
ten  the  time  when  these  children  shall  be  their  own 
free  men  and  women." 

My  faith  in  father's  prayer  made  me  think  that 
the  Lord  would  answer  him  at  the  farthest  in  two  or 
three  weeks,  but  it  was  fully  six  years  before  it  came, 
and  father  had  been  dead  two  years  before  the  war. 

After  prayer  we  all  went  to  bed ;  next  morning 
father  went  to  his  work  in  the  barn-yard,  mother  to 
hers  in  the  field,  and  I  to  mine  among  the  horses ; 
before  I  started,  however,  father  charged  me  carefully 
to  keep  his  advice,  as  he  said  that  would  be  the  easiest 
way  for  me  to  get  along. 

But  in  spite  of  father's  advice,  I  had  made  up  my 
mind  not  to  submit  to  the  treatment  of  Mr.  Young  as 
before,  seeing  that  it  did  not  help  me  any.  Things 
went  smoothly  for  a  while,  until  he  called  me  to  him, 
and  ordered  me  to  bring  him  a  switch.  I  told  him 
that  I  would  bring  him  no  more  switches  for  him  to 
whip  me  with,  but  that  he  must  get  them  himself. 
After  repeating  the  command  very  impatiently,  and  I 
refusing,  he  called  to  another  boy  named  Hardy,  who 
brought  the  switch,Jand  then  taking  me  into  the  stall 
he  whipped  me  unmercifully. 

After  that  he  made  me  run  back  and  forth  every 
morning  from  a  half  to  three  quarters  of  an  hour 
about  two  hundred  and  fifty  yards,  and  every  now 
and  then  he  would  run  after  me,  and  whip  me  to  make 
me  run  faster.  Besides  that,  when  I  was  put  upon  a 
horse,  if  it  threw  me  he  would  whip  me,  if  it  were 
five  times  a  day.  So  I  did  not  gain  anything  by  re 
fusing  to  bring  switches  for  him  to  whip  me  with. 


23 

One  very  cold  morning  in  the  month  of  March,  I 
came  from  home  without  washing  my  face,  and  Mr. 
Young  made  two  of  the  slave  boys  take  me  down  to  a 
pond  where  the  horses  and  mules  used  to  drink  ;  they 
threw  me  into  the  water  and  rubbed  my  face  with 
sand  until  it  bled,  then  I  was  made  to  run  all  the  way 
to  the  stable,  which  was  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile. 
This  cruel  treatment  soon  hardened  me  so  that  I  did 
not  care  for  him  at  all. 

A  short  time  afterwards  I  was  sent  with  the  other 
boys  about  four  or  five  miles  from  home,  up  the  public 
road,  to  practice  the  horse,  and  they  gave  me  a  very 
wild  animal  to  ride,  which  threw  me  very  often.  Mr. 
Young  did  not  go  with  us,  but  sent  a  colored  groom 
every  morning,  who  was  very  faithful  to  every  task 
alloted  him  ;  he  was  instructed  to  whip  me  every 
time  the  horse  threw  me  while  away  from  home.  I 
got  many  little  floggings  by  the  colored  groom,  as  the 
horse  threw  me  a  great  many  times,  but  the  floggings 
I  got  from  him  were  very  feeble  compared  with  those 
of  the  white  man ;  hence  I  was  better  content  to  go 
away  with  'the  colored  groom  than  to  be  at  home 
where  I  should  have  worse  punishment. 

But  the  time  was  coming  when  they -ceased  to  whip 
me  for  being  thrown  by  horses.  -One  day,  as  I  was 
riding  along  the  road,  the  horse  that  I  was  upon 
darted  at  the  sight  of  a  bird,  which  flew  across  the 
way,  throwing  me  upon  a  pile  of  brush.  The  horse 
stepped  on  my  cheek,  and  the  head  of  a  nail  in  his 
shoe  went  through  my  left  cheek  and  broke  a  tooth, 
but  it  was  done  so  quickly  that  I  hardly  felt  it.  It 
happened  that  he  did  not  step  on  me  with  his  whole 
weight,  if  he  had  my  jaw  would  have  been  broken. 


24 

When  I  got  up  the  colored  groom  was  standing  by  me, 
but  he  could  not  whip  me  when  he  saw  the  blood 
flowing  from  my  mouth,  so  he  took  me  down  to  the 
creek,  which  was  but  a  short  distance  from  the  place, 
and  washed  me,  and  then  taking  me  home,  sent  for  a 
doctor,  who  dressed  the  wound. 

When  Mr.  Young  saw  my  condition,  he  asked  how 
it  was  done,  and  upon  being  told  he  said  it  ought  to 
have  killed  me.  After  the  doctor  had  dressed  my 
face,  of  course  I  went  home,  thinking  they  would 
allow  me  to  stay  until  I  got  well,  but  I  had  no  sooner 
arrived  than  the  groom  sent  for  me  ;  I  did  not  answer, 
as  my  jaw  pained  me  very  much.  When  he  found 
that  I  did  not  come,  he  came  after  me  himself,  and 
said  if  I  did  not  come  to  the  stable  right  away,  he 
would  whip  me,  so  I  went  with  him.  He  did  not 
whip  me  while  I  was  in  that  condition,  but  he  would 
not  let  me  lie  down,  so  I  suffered  very  much  from 
exposure. 

When  mother  came  that  night  from  the  farm  and 
saw  my  condition,  she  was  overcome  with  grief ;  she 
said  to  father,  "  this  wound  is  enough  to  kill  the 
child,  and  that  merciless  man  will  not  let  him  lie 
down  until  he  gets  well;  this  is  too  hard."  Father 
said  to  her,  "  I  know  it  is  very  hard,  but  what  can  we 
do  ?  for  if  we  try  to  keep  this  boy  in  the  house  it 
will  cause  us  trouble."  Mother  said,  "  I  wish  they 
would  take  him  out  of  the  world,  then  he  would  be 
out  of  pain,  and  we  should  not  have  to  fret  about  him, 
for  he  would  be  in  heaven.''  Then  she  took  hold  of 
me  and  said,  "  Does  it  hurt  you,  son  ?3t  meaning  my 
face,  and  T  said,  "  Yes,  mamma/'  and  she  shed  tears  ; 
but  she  had  no  little  toys  to  give  me  to  comfort  me  ; 


25 

she  could  only  promise  me  such  as  she  had,  which 
were  eggs  and  chickens. 

Father  did  not  show  his  grief  for  me  as  mother  did, 
but  he  tried  to  comfort  mother  all  he  could,  and  at 
times  would  say  to  me,  "  Never  mind,  my  son,  you 
will  be  a  man  bye  and  bye,"  but  he  did  not  know  what 
was  passing  through  my  mind  at  that  time.  Though 
I  was  very  small  I  thought  that  if,  while  a  boy,  my 
treatment  was  so  severe,  it  would  be  much  worse 
when  I  became  a  man,  and  having  had  a  chance  to 
see  how  men  were  being  punished,  it  was  a  very  poor 
consolation  to  me. 

Finally  the  time  came  for  us  to  go  to  bed,  and  we 
all  knelt  in  family  prayer.  Father  thanked  God  for 
having  saved  me  from  a  worse  injury,  and  then  he 
prayed  for  mother's  comfort,  and  also  for  the  time 
which  he  predicted  would  come,  that  is,  the  time  of 
freedom,  when  I  and  the  rest  of  the  children  wouM  be 
our  own  masters  and  mistresses;  then  he  commended 
us  to  God,  and  we  all  went  to  bed.  The  next  morn 
ing  I  went  to  my  work  with  a  great  deal  of  pain. 
They  did  not  send  me  up  the  road  with  the  horses  in 
that  condition,  but  I  had  to  ride  the  old  horses  to 
water,  and  work  arouud  the  stable  until  I  was  well 
enough  to  go  with  the  other  boys.  But  I  am  happy 
to  say  that  from  the  time  I  got  hurt  by  that  horse  I 
was  never  thrown  except  through  carelessness,  neither 
was  I  afraid  of  a  horse  after  that. 

Notwithstanding  father  and  mother  fretted  very 
much  about  me,  they  were  pioud  of  my  success  as  a 
rider,  but  my  hardships  did  not  end  here. 

A  short  time  after,  I  was  taken  to  Columbia  and 
Charleston,  S.  C.,  where  they  used  to  have  the  races. 


26 

That  year  Col.  Singleton  won  a  large  sum  of  money 
by  the  well-known  horse,  Capt.  Miner,  and  that  was 
the  same  season  that  I  rode  my  trial  race.  The  next 
year,  before  the  time  of  racing,  Col.  Singleton  died  at 
his  summer  seat.  After  master's  death,  mistress'sold 
all  the  race  horses,  and  that  put  an  end  to  sporting 
horses  in  that  family. 

I  said  that  Boney  Young,  Col.  Singleton's  groom, 
had  a  brother  by  the  name  of  Charles,  who  trained 
horses  for  the  colonel's  brother,  John  Singleton, 
Boney  was  a  better  trainer,  but  Charles  was  a  better 
man  to  the  negroes.  It  was  against  the  law  for  a 
slave  to  buy  spirituous  liquors  without  a  ticket,  but 
Charles  used  to  give  the  boys  tickets  to  buy  rum  and 
whiskey  with.  He  also  allowed  them  to  steal  the 
neighbor's  cows  and  hogs. 

I  remember  that  on  one  occasion  his  boys  killed  a 
cow  belonging  to  a  man  by  the  name  of  LeBrun  ;  soon 
after  the  meat  was  brought  to  the  stable,  Le  Brun 
rode  up  on  horseback  with  a  loaded  shot  gun  and 
threatened  to  shoot  the  party  with  whom  the  beef 
was  found.  Of  course  the  negroes'  apartments  were 
searched ;  but  as  that  had  been  anticipated,  Mr. 
Young  had  made  them  put  the  meat  in  his  apartment, 
and,  as  it  was  against  the  law  of  South  Carolina  for  a 
white  man  to  search  another's  house,  or  any  apart 
ment,  without  very  strong  evidence,  the  meat  was  not 
found.  Before  searching  among  the  negroes,  Mr. 
Young  said  to  Le  Brun,  "  You  may  search,  but  you 
won't  find  your  beef  here,  for  my  boys  don't  steal." 
Le  Brun  answered,  ''  Mr.  Young,  your  word  might  be 
true,  sir,  but  I  would  trust  a  nigger  with  money  a 
great  deal  sooner  than  I  would  with  cows  and  hogs." 


27 

Mr.  Young  answered,  "  That  might  be  true,  but  you 
won't  find  your  beef  here." 

After  their  rooms  and  clothes  had  been  searched, 
blood  was  found  under  some  of  their  finger  nails, 
which  increased  Le  Brun's  suspicion  that  they  were  of 
the  party  who  stole  his  cow  ;  but  Mr.  Young  answered, 
"  that  blood  is  from  rabbits  my  boys  eaught  today." 
Mr.  Le  Brun  tried  to  scare  one  of  the  boys,  to  make 
him  say  it  was  the  blood  of  his  cow.  Mr.  Young 
said,  "  Mr.  Le  Brun,  you  have  searched  and  did  not 
find  your  beef,  as  I  told  you  that  you  would  not ;  also 
I  told  you  that  the  blood  under  their  finger  nails  is 
from  rabbits  caught  today.  You  will  have  to  take 
my  word,  sir,  without  going  to  further  trouble ; 
furthermore,  these  boys  belong  to  Mr.  Singleton,  and 
if  you  want  to  take  further  steps  you  will  have  to  see 
him."  Finding  that  he  was  not  allowed  to  do  as  he 
wanted  to,  Mr.  Le  Brun  made  great  oaths  and  threats 
as  he  mounted  his  horse  to  leave,  that  he  would  shoot 
the  very  first  one  of  those  boys  he  should  catch  near 
his  cattle.  He  and  Mr.  Young  never  did  agree  after 
that. 

But  poor  Mr.  Young,  as  good  as  he  was  to  the 
negroes,  was  an  enemy  to  himself,  for  he  was  a  very 
hard  drinker.  People  who  knew  him  before  I  did 
said  they  never  had  seen  him  drink  tea,  coffee,  or 
water,  but  rather  rum  and  whiskey  ;  he  drank  so  hard 
that  he  used  to  go  into  a  crazy  fit ;  he  finally  put  an 
end  to  his  life  by  cutting  his  throat  with  a  razor,  at  a 
place  called  O'Handly's  race  course,  about  three  miles 
from  Columbia,  S.  C.  This  was  done  just  a  few  days 
before  one  of  the  great  races. 

Boney  Young  drank,  too,  but  not  so  hard  as  Charles. 


28 

He  lived  until  just  after  the  late  war,  and,  while 
walking  one  day  through  one  of  the  streets  of  the 
above  named  city,  dropped  dead,  with  what  was  sup 
posed  to  have  been  heart  disease. 

Boney  had  a  mulatto  woman,  named  Moriah,  who 
had  been  originally  brought  from  Virginia  by  negro 
traders,  but  had  been  sold  to  several  different  masters 
later.  The  trouble  was  that  she  was  very  beautiful, 
and  wherever  she  was  sold  her  mistresses  became 
jealous  of  her,  so  that  she  changed  owners  very  often. 
She  was  finally  sold  to  Boney  Young,  who  had  no 
wife  ;  and  she  lived  with  him  until  freed  by  the  eman 
cipation  proclamation.  She  had  two  daughters  ;  the 
elder's  name  was  Annie,  but  we  used  to  call  her 
sissie ;  the  younger's  name  was  Josephine.  Annie 
looked  just  like  her  father,  Boney  Young,  while 
Josephine  looked  enough  like  Charles  to  have  been 
his  daughter.  It  was  easy  enough  to  tell  that  the 
mother  had  sprung  from  the  negro  race,  but  the  girls 
could  pass  for  white.  Their  mother,  Moriah,  died  in 
Columbia  some  time  after  the  war.  Annie  went  off 
and  was  married  to  a  white  man,  but  I  don't  know 
what  became  of  Josephine. 

A  short  time  before  master's  death  he  stood  secur 
ity  for  a  northern  man,  who  was  cashier  of  one  of 
the  largest  banks  in  the  city  of  Charleston.  This 
man  ran  away  with  a  large  sum  of  money,  leaving 
the  colonel  embarassed,  which  fact  made  him  very 
fretful  and  peevish.  He  had  been  none  too  good 
before  to  his  slaves,  and  that  made  him  worse,  as 
you  knew  that  the  slave  holders  would  revenge  them 
selves  on  the  slaves  whenever  they  became  angry.  I 
had  seen  master  whip  his  slaves  a  great  many  times, 


29 

but  never  so  severely  as  he  did  that 'spring  before  he 
died. 

One  day,  before  he  went  to  his  summer  seat,  he 
called  a  man  to  him,  stripped  and  whipped  him 
so  that  the  blood  ran  from  his  body  like  water 
thrown  upon  him  in  cupfuls,-  and  when  the  man 
stepped  from  the  place  where  he  had  been  tied,  the 
blood  ran  out  of  his  shoes.  He  said  to  the  man, 
"You  will  remember  me  now,  sir,  as  long  as  you 
live."  The  man  answered,  "  Yes,  master,  I  will." 

Master  went  away  that  spring  for  the  last  time  ;  he 
never  returned  alive ;  he  died  at  his  summer  seat. 
When  they  brought  his  remains  home  all  of  the 
slaves  were  allowed  to  stop  at  home  that  day  to  see 
the  last  of  him,  and  to  lament  with  mistress.  After 
all  the  slaves  who  cared  to  do  so  had  seen  his  face, 
they  gathered  in  groups  around  mistress  to  comfort 
her ;  they  shed  false  tears,  saying,  "  Never  mind, 
missis,  massa  gone  home  to  heaven."  While  some 
were  saying  this,  others  said,  "  Thank  God,  massa 
gone  home  to  hell."  Of  course  the  most  of  them 
were  glad  that  he  was  dead  ;  but  they  were  gathered 
there  for  the  express  purpose  of  comforting  mistress. 
But  after  master's  death  mistress  was  a  great  deal 
worse  than  he  had  been. 

When  the  master  died  there  was  a  great  change  of 
things  on  the  plantation  ;  the  creditors  came  in  for 
settlement,  so  all  of  the  fine  horses,  and  some  others, 
such  as  carriage  horses,  and  a  few  mules  also,  were 
sold.  The  slaves  whom  master  had  bought  himself 
had  to  be  sold,  but  those  who  had  been  born  on  the 
plantation,  given  to  him  by  his  father,  old  Col.  Dick 
Singleton,  could  not  be  sold  until  the  grandchildren 
were  of  age. 


30 

As  I  have  stated,  my  hardships  and  trials  did  not 
end  with  the  race  horses  ;  you  will  now  see  them  in 
another  form. 

After  all  the  fine  horses  had  been  sold,  mistress 
ordered  the  men  and  boys  who  were  taking  care  of 
the  horses  to  be  put  into  the  field,  and  I  was  among 
them,  though  small ;  but  I  had  become  so  attached  to 
the  horses  that  they  could  get  no  work  out  of  me,  so 
they  began  to  whip  me,  but  every  time  they  whipped 
me  I  would  leave  the  field  and  run  home  to  the  barn 
yard. 

Finally  mistress  engaged  a  very  bad  man  as  over 
seer,  in  place  of  old  Ben  Usome,  whose  name  was 
William  Turner.  Two  or  three  days  after  his  arrival 
he  took  me  into  the  field  and  whipped  me  until  I  was 
sick,  so  I  went  home. 

T  went  to  mistress  and  told  her  that  the  overseer 
had  whipped  me  ;  she  asked  if  I  had  done  the  work 
that  he  had  given  me.  I  told  her  that  master  had 
promised  me  that,  when  I  got  too  heavy  to  ride  race 
horses,  he  would  send  me  to  learn  the  carpenter's 
trade  ;  she  asked  me  if,  in  case  she  put  me  to  a  trade, 
I  would  work,  and  I  told  her  I  would.  So  she  con 
sented. 

But  the  overseer  did  not  like  the  idea  of  having  me 
work  at  the  trade  which  was  my  choice.  He  said  to 
mistress,  "  That  is  the  worst  thing  you  can  do, 
madam,  to  allow  a  negro  to  have  his  choice  about 
what  he  shall  do.  I  have  had  some  experience  as  an 
overseer  for  many  years,  and  I  think  I  am  able  to 
give  a  correct  statement  about  the  nature  of  negroes 
in  general.  I  know  a  gentleman  who  allowed  his 
negroes  to  have  their  own  way  about  things  on  his 


31 

plantation,  and  the  result  was  that  they  got  as  high 
as  their  master.  Besides  that,  madam,  their  influence 
rapidly  spreads  among  the  neighbors,  and  if  such 
should  be  allowed,  South  Carolina  would  have  all 
masters  and  mistresses,  and  no  servants  ;  and,  as  I 
have  said,  I  know  somewhat  about  the  nature  of 
negroes  ;  I  notice,  madam,  that  this  boy  will  put  you 
to  a  great  deal  of  trouble  unless  you  begin  to  subdue 
him  now  while  he  is  young.  A  very  few  years'  delay 
will  enable  him  to  have  a  great  influence  among  his 
fellow  negroes,  for  that  boy  can  read  very  well  now, 
and  you  know,  madam,  it  is  against  the  law  for  a 
negro  to  get  an  education,  and  if  you  allow  him  to 
work  at  the  carpenter's  trade  it  will  thus  afford  him 
the  opportunity  of  acquiring  a  better  education,  be 
cause  he  will  not  be  directly  under  the  eye  of  one 
who  will  see  that  he  makes  no  further  advancement." 

Then  mistress  asked  me,  "  Can  you  read,  Jacob  ?" 
I  did  not  want  her  to  know  that  I  had  taken  notice  of 
what  they  were  saying,  so  I  answered,  "[  don't 
know,  ma'am."  The  overseer  said,  "  He  does  not 
know  what  is  meant,  madam,  but  I  can  make  him 
understand  me."  Then  he  took  a  newspaper  from  his 
pocket  and  said  to  me,  "  Can  you  say  these  words  ?" 
I  took  the  paper  and  began  to  read,  then  he  took  it 
from  me. 

Mistress  asked  when  I  had  learned  to  read  and  who 
had  taught  me.  The  overseer  did  not  know,  but  said 
he  would  find  out  from  me.  Turning  to  me  he  took 
the  paper  from  his  pocket  again,  and  said,  "  Jacob, 
who  told  you  to  say  words  in  the  book  P"  I  answered, 
"Nobody,  sir  ;  I  said  them  myself."  He  repeated 
the  question  three  or  four  times,  and  I  gave  the  same 


32 

answer  every  time.  Then  mistress  said,  "I  think  it 
would  be  better  to  put  him  to  trade  than  to  have  him 
in  the  field,  because  he  will  be  away  from  his  fellow- 
negroes,  and  will  be  less  liable  to  influence  them  if 
we  can  manage  to  keep  him  away.'7  The  overseer 
said,  "  That  might  be  true,  madam,  but  if  we  can 
manage  to  keep  him  from  gaining  any  more  education 
he  will  eventually  lose  what  little  he  has  ;  and  now, 
madam,  if  you  will  allow  me  to  take  him  in  hand,  I 
will  bring  him  out  all  right  without  injuring  him." 
Just  at  this  juncture  a  carriage  drove  up  to  the  gate, 
and  I  ran  as  usual  to  open  it,  the  overseer  went  about 
his  business,  and  mistress  went  to  speak  to  the  per 
sons  in  the  carriage.  I  never  had  a  chance  to  hear 
their  conclusion. 

A  few  days  after  the  conversation  between  the 
overseer  and  mistress,  I  was  informed  by  one  of  the 
slaves,  who  was  a  carpenter,  that  she  had  ordered 
that  I  should  go  to  work  at  the  trade  with  him.  This 
gave  me  great  joy,  as  I  was  very  anxious  to  know 
what  they  had  decided  to  do  with  me.  I  went  to  my 
new  trade  with  great  delight,  and  soon  began  to 
imagine  what  a  famous  carpenter  I  should  make,  and 
what  I  should  say  and  do  when  I  had  learned  the 
trade.  Everything  seemed  to  run  smoothly  with  me 
for  about  two  months,  when  suddenly  I  was  told  one 
morning  that  I  must  go  into  the  field  to  drop  cotton 
seed,  but  I  did  not  heed  the  call,  as  mistress  was  not 
at  home,  and  I  knew  she  had  just  put  me  to  the 
trade,  also  that  the  overseer  was  trying  to  get  mis 
tress'  consent  to  have  me  work  out  in  the  field. 

The  next  morning  the  overseer  came  into  the  car 
penter's  shop  and  said,  "Did  I  not  order  ye  into  the 


33 

field,  sir  ?"  I  answered,  "  Yes,  sir."  "  Well,  why 
did  ye  not  go  ?"  I  answered,  "Mistress  has  put  me 
here  to  learn  the  trade.''  He  said,  "  I  will  give  ye 
trade.7'  So  he  stripped  me  and  gave  me  a  severe 
whipping,  and  told  me  that  that  was  the  kind  of 
trade  I  needed,  and  said  he  would  give  me  many  of 
them.  The  next  day  I  went  into  the  field,  and  he  put 
me  to  drop  cotton  seed,  as  I  was  too  small  to  do  any 
thing  else.  I  would  have  made  further  resistance,  but 
mistress  was  very  far  away  from  home,  and  I  had 
already  learned  the  lesson  that  father  and  mother 
could  render  me  no  help,  so  I  thought  submission  to 
him  the  easiest  for  me. 

When  I  had  got  through  with  the  cotton  seed,  in 
about  three  weeks,  I  went  back  to  the  carpenter's 
shop  to  work  ;  so  he  came  there  and  gave  me  another 
severe  whipping,  and  said  to  me,  "  Ye  want  to  learn 
the  carpenter's  trade,  but  I  will  have  ye  to  the  trade 
of  the  field."  But  that  was  the  last  whipping  he 
gave  me,  and  the  last  of  his  whip. 

A  few  days  after  my  last  whipping  the  slaves  were 
ordered  down  into  the  swamp  across  the  river  to  clear 
up  new  grounds,  while  the  already  cleared  lands  were 
too  wet  from  rain  that  had  fallen  that  night.  Of 
course  I  was  among  them  to  do  my  part ;  that  is, 
while  the  men  quartered  up  dry  trees,  which  had 
been  already  felled  in  the  winter,  and  rolled  the  logs 
together,  the  women,  boys  and  girls  piled  the  brushes 
on  the  logs  and  burned  them. 

We  had  to  cross  the  river  in  a  flat  boat,  which  was 
too  small  to  carry  over  all  the  slaves  at  once,  so  they 
had  to  make  several  trips. 

Mr.  Turner,  the  overseer,  went  across  in  the  first 


34 

flat ;  he  did  not  ride  down  to  the  work  place,  but 
went  on  foot,  while  his  horse,  which  was  trained  to 
stand  alone  without  being  hitched,  was  left  at  the 
landing  place.  My  cousin  and  I  crossed  in  the  last 
boat.  When  we  had  got  across  we  lingered  behind 
the  crowd  at  the  landing ;  when  they  all  were  gone 
we  went  near  the  horse  and  saw  the  whip  with  which 
I  was  whipped  a  few  days  before  fastened  to  the 
saddle.  I  said  to  him,  "  Here  is  the  whip  old  Turner 
whipped  me  with  the  other  day."  He  said,  "  It 
ought  to  be  put  where  he  will  never  get  it  to  whip 
anybody  with  again."  I  answered  my  cousin,  "  If 
you  will  keep  the  secret  I  will  put  it  where  old  Bill, 
as  we  used  to  call  Mr.  Turner,  will  never  use  it  any 
more."  He  agreed  to  keep  the  secret,  and  then 
asked  me  how  I  would  put  the  whip  away.  I  told 
him  if  he  would  find  me  a  string  and  a  piece  of  iron 
I  would  show  him  how.  He  ran  down  to  the  swamp 
barn,  which  was  a  short  distance  from  the  margin  of 
the  river,  and  soon  returned  with  the  string  and  iron 
exactly  suited  for  the  work.  I  tied  the  iron  to  the 
whip,  went  into  the  flat  boat,  and  threw  it  as  far  as  I 
could  into  the  river.  My  cousin  and  I  watched  it 
until  it  went  out  of  sight  under  water  ;  then,  as 
guilty  boys  generally  do  after  mischievous  deeds,  we 
dashed  off  in  a  run,  hard  as  we  could,  among  the 
other  negroes,  and  acted  as  harmless  as  possible.  Mr. 
Turner  made  several  inquiries,  but  never  learned  what 
had  become  of  his  whip. 

A  short  time  after  this,  in  the  time  of  the  war,  in 
the  year  1863,  when  a  man  was  going  round  to  the 
different  plantations  gathering  slaves  from  their 
masters  to  carry  off  to  work  on  fortifications  and  to 


35 

wait  on  officers,  there  were  ten  slaves  sent  from  Mrs. 
Singleton's  plantation,  and  I  was  among  them.  They 
carried  us  to  Sullivan's  Island  at  Charleston,  S.  C., 
and  I  was  there  all  of  that  year.  I  thanked  God  that 
it  afforded  me  a  better  chance  for  an  education  than 
I  had  had  at  home,  and  so  I  was  glad  to  be  on  the 
island.  Though  I  had  no  one  to  teach  me,  as  I  was 
thrown  among  those  of  my  fellow  negroes  who  were 
fully  as  lame  as  I  was  in  letters,  yet  I  felt  greatly  re 
lieved  from  being  under  the  eye  of  the  overseer, 
whose  intention  was  to  keep  me  from  further  ad 
vancement.  The  year  after  I  had  gone  home  I  was 
sent  back  to  Fort  Sumpter — in  the  year  1864.  I  car 
ried  my  spelling  book  with  me,  and,  although  the 
northerners  were  firing  upon  us,  I  tried  to  keep  up 
my  study. 

In  July  of  the  same  year  I  was  wounded  by  the 
Union  soldiers,  on  a  Wednesday  evening.  I  was 
taken  to  the  city  of  Charleston,  to  Dr.  Regg's  hospi 
tal,  and  there  I  stayed  until  I  got  well  enough  to 
travel,  when  I  was  sent  to  Columbia,  where  I  was 
when  the  hour  of  liberty  was  proclaimed  to  me,  in 
1865.  This  was  the  year  of  jubilee,  the  year  which 
my  father  had  spoken  of  in  the  dark  days  of  slavery, 
when  he  and  mother  sat  up  late  talking  of  it.  He 
said  to  mother,  "The  time  will  come  when  this  boy 
and  the  rest  of  the  children  will  be  their  own  masters 
and  mistresses."  He  died  six  years  before  that  day 
came,  but  mother  is  still  enjoying  liberty  with  her 
children. 

And  no  doubt  my  readers  would  like  to  know  how 
I  was  wounded  in  the  war.  We  were  obliged  to  do 
our  work  in  the  night,  as  they  were  firing  on  us  in 


36 

the  day,  and  on  a  Wednesday  night,  just  as  we  went 
out,  we  heard  the  cry  of  the  watchman.  "  Look  out." 
There  was  a  little  lime  house  near  the  southwest 
corner  of  the  fort,  and  some  twelve  or  thirteen  of  us 
ran  into  it,  and  all  were  killed  but  two  ;  a  shell  came 
down  on  the  lime  house  and  burst,  and  a  piece  cut  my 
face  open.  But  as  it  was  not  my  time  to  die,  I  lived 
to  enjoy  freedom. 

I  said  that  when  I  got  so  T  could  travel  I  was  sent 
from  Dr.  Ragg's  hospital  in  Charleston  to  Col.  Single 
ton's  plantation  near  Columbia,  in  the  last  part  of  the 
year  1864.  I  did  not  do  any  work  during  the  remain 
der  of  that  year,  because  I  was  unwell  from  my 
wound  received  in  the  fort. 

About  that  time  Gen.  Sherman  came  through 
Georgia  with  his  hundred  thousand  men,  and  camped 
at  Columbia,  S.  C.  The  slave  holders  were  very  un 
easy  as  to  how  they  should  save  other  valuables,  as 
they  saw  that  slavery  was  a  hopeless  case.  Mistress 
had  some  of  her  horses,  mules,  cows  and  hogs  carried 
down  into  the  swamp,  while  the  others  which  were 
left  on  the  plantation  were  divided  out  to  the  negroes 
for  safe  keeping,  as  she  had  heard  that  the  Yankees 
would  not  take  anything  belonging  to  the  slaves.  A 
little  pig  of  about  tilty  or  sixty  pounds  was  given  to 
me  for  safe  keeping.  A  few  of  the  old  horses  and 
mules  were  taken  from  the  plantation  by  the  Union 
soldiers,  but  they  did  not  trouble  anything  else. 

After  Columbia  had  been  burned,  and  things  had 
somewhat  quieted,  along  in  the  year  1865,  the  negroes 
were  asked  to  give  up  the  cows  and  hogs  given  them 
for  safe  keeping  ;  all  the  rest  gave  up  theirs,  but  mine 
was  not  found.  No  doubt  but  my  readers  want  to 


37 

know  what  had  become  of  it.  Well,  I  will  tell  you. 
You  all  know  that  Christmas  was  a  great  day  with 
both  masters  and  slaves  in  the  South,  but  the  Christ 
mas  of  1864  was  the  greatest  which  had  ever  come  to 
the  slaves,  for,  although  the  proclamation  did  not 
reach  us  until  1865,  we  felt  that  the  chains  which  had 
bound  us  so  long  were  well  nigh  broken. 

So  I  killed  the  pig  that  Christmas,  gathered  all  of 
my  associates,  and  had  a  great  feast,  after  which  we 
danced  the  whole  week.  Mother  would  not  let  me 
have  my  feast  in  her  cabin,  because  she  was  afraid 
that  the  white  people  would  charge  her  with  advising 
me  to  kill  the  pig,  so  I  had  it  in  one  of  the  other 
slave's  cabins. 

When  the  overseer,  asked  me  for  the  pig  given  me, 
I  told  him  that  I  killed  it  for  my  Christmas  feast. 
Mistress  said  to  me,  "  Jacob,  why  did  you  not  a»k  me 
for  the  pig  if  you  wanted  it,  rather  than  take  it  with 
out  permission  ?"  I  answered,  "  I  would  have  asked, 
but  thought,  as  I  had  it  in  hand,  it  wasn't  any  use 
asking  for  it."  The  overseer  wanted  to  whip  me  for 
it,  but  as  Uncle  S^im  had  already  broken  the  right 
arm  of  slavery,  through  the  voice  of  the  proclama 
tion  of  1863,  he  was  powerless.  ' 

When  the  yoke  had  been  taken  from  my  neck  I 
went  to  school  in  Columbia,  S.  C.,  awhile,  then  to 
Charleston.  Afterward  I  came  to  Worcester,  Mass., 
in  February,  1869.  I  studied  quite  a  while  in  the 
evening  schools  at  Worcester,  and  also  a  while  in  the 
academy  of  the  same  place.  During  that  time  I  was 
licensed  a  local  preacher  of  the  African  Methodist 
Episcopal  church,  and  sometime  later  was  ordained 
deacon  at  Newport,  R.  I. 


38 

A  short  time  after  my  ordination  I  was  sent  to 
Salem,  Mass.,  where  I  have  remained,  carrying  on 
religious  work  among  my  people,  trying  in  my  feeble 
way  to  preach  that  gospel  which  our  blessed  Saviour 
intended  for  the  redemption  of  all  mankind,  when  he 
proclaimed,  "  Go  ye  into  all  the  world  and  preach  the 
gospel."  In  the  meantime  I  have  been  striking 
steady  blows  for  the  improvement  of  my  education, 
in  preparing  myself  for  a  field  of  work  among  my 
more  unfortunate  brethren  in  the  South. 

I  must  say  that  I  have  been  surrounded  by  many 
good  friends,  including  the  clergy,  since  I  have  been 
in  Salem,  whose  aid  has  enabled  me  to  serve  a  short 
term  in  the  Wesleyan  school  at  Wilbraham,  Mass., 
also  to  begin  a  course  of  theological  studies  at  Talla- 
dega  college  in  Alabama,  which  I  am  endeavoring  to 
complete  by  the  sale  of  this  publication. 


CHAPTER  IT.— SKETCHES. 

THE    SALE    OF    MY    TWO    SISTERS. 

I  have  stated  that  my  father  had  fifteen  children — 
four  boys  and  three  girls  by  his  first  wife,  and  six 
boys  and  two  girls  by  his  second.  Their  names  are 
as  follows :  Toney,  Azerine,  Duke  and  Dezine,  of  the 
girls,  Violet,  Priscilla  and  Lydia ;  those  of  the  second 
wife  as  follows:  Footy,  Embrus,  Caleb,  Mitchell, 
Cuffee,  and  Jacob,  who  is  the  author,  and  the  girls, 
Catherine  and  Retta. 

As  I  have  said,  old  Col.  Dick  Singleton  had  two 
sons  and  two  daughters,  and  each  had  a  plantation. 
Their  names  were  John,  Matt,  Marianna  and  Angel- 
ico.  They  were  very  agreeable  together,  so  that  if 
one  wanted  negro  help  from  another's  plantation,  he 
or  she  could  have  it,  especially  in  cotton  picking 
time. 

John  Singleton  had  a  place  about  twenty  miles 
from  master's,  and  master  used  to  send  him  slaves  to 
pick  cotton.  At  one  time  my  master,  Col.  M.  R. 
Singleton,  sent  my  two  sisters,  Violet  and  Priscilla, 
to  his  brother  John,  and  while  they  were  there  they 
married  two  of  the  men  on  his  place.  By  mutual 
consent  master  allowed  them  to  remain  on  his  broth 
er's  place.  But  some  time  after  this  John  Singleton 
had  some  of  his  property  destroyed  by  water,  as  is 
often  the  case  in  the  South  at  the  time  of  May  fresh 
ets,  what  is  known  in  the  North  as  high  tides. 

One  of  these  freshets  swept  away  John  Singleton's 
slave  houses,  his  barns,  with  horses,  mules  and  cows. 

(39) 


40 

These  caused  his  death  by  a  broken  heart,  and  since 
he  owed  a  great  deal  of  money  his  slaves  had  to  be 
sold.  A  Mr.  Manning  bought  a  portion  of  them,  and 
Charles  Login  the  rest.  These  two  men  were  known 
as  the  greatest  slave  traders  in  the  South.  My  sisters 
were  among  the  number  that  Mr.  Manning  bought. 

He  was  to  take  them  into  the  state  of  Louisiana 
for  sale,  but  some  of  the  men  did  not  want  to  go  with 
him,  and  he  put  those  in  prison  until  he  was  ready  to 
start.  My  sisters'  husbands  were  among  the  prison 
ers  in  the  Sumterville  jail,  which  was  about  twenty- 
five  or  thirty  miles  across  the  river  from  master's 
place.  Those  who  did  not  show  any  unwillingness  to 
go  were  allowed  to  visit  their  relatives  and  friends  for 
the  last  time.  So  my  sisters,  with  the  rest  of  their 
unfortunate  companions,  came  to  master's  place  to 
visit  us.  When  the  day  came  for  them  to  leave, 
some,  who  seemed  to  have  been  willing  to  go  at  first, 
refused,  and  were  handcuffed  together  and  guarded 
on  their  way  to  the  cars  by  white  men.  The  women 
and  children  were  driven  to  the  depot  in  crowds,  like 
so  many  cattle,  and  the  sight  of  them  caused  great 
excitement  among  master's  negroes.  Imagine  a  mass 
of  uneducated  people  shedding  tears  and  yelling  at 
the  top  of  their  voices  in  anguish. 

The  victims  were  to  take  the  cars  at  a  station 
called  Clarkson  turnout,  which  was  about  four  miles 
from  master's  place.  The  excitement  was  so  great 
that  the  overseer  and  driver  could  not  control  the 
relatives  and  friends  of  those  that  were  going  away, 
as  a  large  crowd  of  both  old  and  young  went  down  to 
the  depot  to  see  them  off.  Louisiana  was  considered 
by  the  slaves  a  place  of  slaughter,  so  those  who  were 


41 

going  did  not  expect  to  see  their  friends  again.  While 
passing  along  many  of  the  negroes  left  their  masters7 
fields  and  joined  us  as  we  inarched  to  the  cars  ;  some 
were  yelling  and  wringing  their  hands,  while  others 
were  singing  little  hymns  that  they  had  been  accus 
tomed  to  for  the  consolation  of  those  that  were  going 
away,  such  as 

"When  we  all  meet  in  heaven, 

There  is  no  parting  there ; 
When  we  all  meet  in  heaven, 

There  is  parting  no  more." 

We  arrived  at  the  depot  and  had  to  wait  for  the 
cars  to  bring  the  others  from  the  Sumterville  jail, 
but  they  soon  came  in  sight,  and  when  the  noise  of 
the  cars  had  died  away,  we  heard  wailing  and  shrieks 
from  those  in  the  cars.  While  some  were  weeping, 
others  were  fiddling,  picking  banjo,  and  dancing  as 
they  used  to  do  in  their  cabins  on  the  plantations. 
Those  who  were  so  merry  had  very  bad  masters,  and 
even  though  they  stood  a  chance  of  being  sold  to  one 
as  bad  or  even  worse,  yet  they  were  glad  to  be  rid  of 
the  one  they  knew. 

While  the  cars  were  at  the  depot  a  large  crowd  of 
white  people  gathered,  laughing  and  talking  about 
the  prospect  of  negro  traffic ;  but  when  the  cars  be 
gan  to  start,  and  the  conductor  cried  out,  "  All  who 
are  going  on  this  train  must  get  on  board  without 
delay,"  the  colored  people  cried  out  with  one  voice  as 
though  the  heavens  and  earth  were  coming  together, 
and  it  was  so  pitiful  that  those  hard-hearted  white 
men,  who  had  been  accustomed  to  driving  slaves  all 
their  lives,  shed  tears  like  children.  As  the  cars 
moved  away  we  heard  the  weeping  and  wailing  from 


42 

the  slaves  as  far  as  human  voice  could  be  heard  ;  and 
from  that  time  to  the  present  I  have  neither  seen  nor 
heard  from  my  two  sisters,  nor  any  of  those  who  left 
Clarkson  depot  on  that  memorable  day. 

THE    WAY    THE    SLAVES    LIVED. 

Most  of  the  cabins  in  the  time  of  slavery  were 
built  so  as  to  contain  two  families ;  some  had  parti 
tions,  while  others  had  none.  When  there  were  no 
partitions  each  family  would  fit-  up  its  own  part  as  it 
could ;  sometimes  they  got  old  boards  and  nailed 
them  up,  stuffing  the  cracks  with  rags  ;  when  they 
could  not  get  boards  they  hung  up  old  clothes.  When 
the  family  increased  the  children  all  slept  together, 
both  boys  and  girls,  until  one  got  married ;  then  a 
part  of  another  cabin  was  assigned  to  that  one,  but 
the  rest  would  have  to  remain  with  their  mother  and 
father,  as  in  childhood,  unless  they  could  get  with 
some  of  their  relatives  or  friends  who  had  small 
families,  or  unless  they  were  sold  ;  but  of  course  the 
rules  of  modesty  were  held  in  some  degrees  by  the 
slaves,  while  it  could  not  be  expected  that  they  could 
entertain  the  highest  degree  of  it,  on  account  of  their 
condition.  A  portion  of  the  time  the  young  men 
slept  in  the  apartment  known  as  the  kitchen,  and  the 
young  women  slept  in  the  room  with  their  mother 
and  father.  The  two  families  had  to  use  one  fire 
place.  One  who  was  accustomed  to  the  way  in  which 
the  slaves  lived  in  their  cabins  could  tell  as  soon  as 
they  entered  whether  they  were  friendly  or  not,  for 
when  they  did  not  agree  the  fires  of  the  two  families 
did  not  meet  on  the  hearth,  but  there  was  a  vacancy 
between  them,  that  was  a  sign  of  disagreement.  In 


43 

a  case  of  this  kind,  when  either  of  the  families  stole 
a  hog,  cow  or  sheep  from  the  master,  he  had  to  carry 
it  to  some  of  his  friends,  for  fear  of  being  betrayed 
by  the  other  family.  On  one  occasion  a  man,  who  lived 
with  one  unfriendly,  stole  a  hog,  killed  it,  and  carried 
some  of  the  meat  home.  He  was  seen  by  some  one  of 
the  other  family,  who  reported  him  to  the  overseer, 
and  he  gave  the  man  a  severe  whipping.  Sometime 
afterward  this  man  who  had  been  betrayed  thought  he 
would  get  even  with  his  enemy ;  so  about  two  months 
later  he  killed  another  hog,  and,  after  eating  a  part  of 
it,  stole  into  the  apartment  of  the  other  family  and  hid 
a  portion  of  the  meat  among  the  old  clothes.  Then  he 
told  the  overseer  that  he  had  seen  the  man  go  out  late 
that  night  and  that  he  had  not  come  home  until  the 
next  morning ;  when  he  did  come  he  had  called  his 
wife  to  the  window  and  she  had  taken  something  in. 
He  did  not  know  what  it  was,  but  if  the  overseer 
would  go  there  right  away  he  would  find  it.  The 
overseer  went  and  searched  and  found  the  meat,  so 
the  man  was  whipped.  He  told  the  overseer  that  the 
other  man  put  it  in  his  apartment  while  the  family 
were  away,  but  the  overseer  told  him  that  every  man 
must  be  responsible  for  his  own  apartment. 

No  doubt  you  would  like  to  know  how  the  slaves 
could  sleep  in  their  cabins  in  summer,  when  it  was  so 
very  warm.  When  it  was  too  warm  for  them  to  sleep 
comfortably,  they  all  slept  under  trees  until  it  grew 
too  cool,  that  is  along  in  the  month  of  October.  Then 
they  took  up  their  beds  and  walked. 

JOE   AND    THE    TURKEY. 

Joe  was  a  boy  who  was  waiter  to  his  master,  one 


44 

Mr.  King,  and  he  and  his  wife  were  very  fond  of 
company.  Mrs.  King  always  had  chickens  and  tur 
key  for  dinner,  but  at  one  time  the  company  was  so 
large  that  they  did  not  leave  anything  for  the  ser 
vants  ;  so  that  day,  finding  that  all  had  been  eaten, 
while  mistress  and  master  were  busy  with  the  company, 
Joe  killed  a  turkey,  dressed  it  and  put  it  into  the  pot, 
but,  as  he  did  not  cut  it  up,  the  turkey's  knees  stuck 
out  of  the  pot,  and,  as  he  could  not  cover  them  up, 
he  put  one  of  his  shirts  over  them.  When  Mrs.  King 
called  Joe,  he  answered,  but  did  not  go  right  away 
as  he  generally  did,  and  when  he  did  go  his  mistress 
said,  "Joe,  what  was  the  matter  with  you  ?  "  he 
answered,  "Noffing,  missis. >;  Then  he  went  and 
opened  the  gate  for  the  company.  Soon  after,  Joe 
was  back  in  the  kitchen  again,  arid  Mrs.  King  went 
down  to  see  what  he  was  doing;  seeing  the  pot  on 
she  said,  "  Joe,  what  is  in  that  pot  ? "  he  said, 
"  noffing,  missis,  but  my  shirt ;  am  gwine  to  wash  it." 
She  did  not  believe  him,  so  she  took  a  fork  and  stuck 
it  in  the  pot,  taking  out  the  shirt,  and  she  found  the 
turkey.  She  asked  him  how  the  turkey  had  got  into 
the  pot ;  he  said  he  did  not  know  but  reckoned  the 
turkey  got  in  himself,  as  the  fowls  were  very  fond  of 
going  into  the  kitchen.  So  Joe  was  whipped  because 
he  allowed  the  turkey  to  get  into  the  pot. 

THE    CUSTOM    OF    CHRISTMAS. 

Both  masters  and  slaves  regarded  Christmas  as  a 
great  day.  When  the  slaveholders  had  made  a  large 
crop  they  were  pleased,  and  gave  the  slaves  from  five 
to  six  days,  which  were  much  enjoyed  by  the  negroes, 
especially  by  those  who  could  dance.  Christmas 


45 

morning  was  held  sacred  both  by  master  and  slaves, 
but  in  the  afternoon,  or  in  a  part  of  the  next  day,  the 
slaves  were  required  to  devote  themselves  to  the 
pleasure  of  their  masters.  Some  of  the  masters 
would  buy  presents  for  the  slaves,  such  as  hats  and 
tobacco  for  the  men,  handkerchiefs  and  little  things 
for  the  women  ;  these  things  were  given  after  they 
had  been  pleased  with  them  ;  after  either  dancing  or 
something  for  their  amusement. 

When  the  slaves  came  up  to  their  masters  and  mis 
tresses,  the  latter  would  welcome  them,  the  men  would 
take  off  their  hats  and  bow  and  the  women  would  make 
a  low  courtesy.  There  would  be  two  or  three  large 
pails  filled  with  sweetened  water,  with  a  gallon  or  two 
of  whiskey  in  each  ;  this  was  dealt  out  to  them  until 
they  were  partly  drunk  ;  while  this  was  going  on, 
those  who  could  talk  very  well  would  give  tokens  of 
well  wishing  to  their  master  and  mistress,  and  some 
who  were  born  in  Africa,  would  sing  some  of  their 
songs,  or  tell  different  stories  of  the  customs  in 
Africa.  After  this  they  would  spend  half  a  day  in 
dancing  in  some  large  cotton  house  or  on  a  scaffold, 
the  master  providing  fiddlers  who  came  from  other 
plantations  if  there  were  none  on  the  place,  and  who 
received  from  fifteen  to  twenty  dollars  on  these  occa 
sions. 

A  great  many  of  the  strict  members  of  the  church 
who  did  not  dance  would  be  forced  to  do  it  to  please 
their  masters  ;  the  favorite  tunes  were  "  The  Fisher's 
Hornpipe,"  "  The  Devil's  Dream,"  and  "  Black-eyed 
Susan."  No  one  can  describe  the  intense  emotion  in 
the  negro's  soul  on  those  occasions  when  they  were 
trying  to  please  their  masters  and  mistresses. 


46 

After  the  dancing  was  over  we  had  our  presents, 
master  giving  to  the  men,  and  mistress  to  the  women  ; 
then  the  slaves  would  go  to  their  quarters  and  con 
tinue  to  dance  the  rest  of  the  five  or  six  days,  and 
would  sometimes  dance  until  eight  o'clock  Sunday 
morning.  The  cabins  were  mostly  made  of  logs,  and 
there  were  large  cracks  in  them  so  that  a  person  could 
see  the  light  in  them  for  miles  in  the  night,  and  of 
course  the  sun's  rays  would  shine  through  them  in 
the  daytime,  so  on  Sunday  morning  when  they  were 
dancing  and  did  not  want  to  stop  you  would  see  them 
filling  up  the  cracks  with  old  rags.  The  idea  was 
that  it  would  not  be  Sunday  inside  if  they  kept  the 
sun  out,  and  thus  they  would  not  desecrate  the  Sab 
bath  ;  and  these  things  continued  until  the  freedom 
of  the  slaves. 

Perhaps  my  readers  would  like  to  know  if  most  of 
the  negroes  were  inclined  to  violate  the  Sabbath. 
They  were  ;  as  the  masters  would  make  them  do  un 
necessary  work,  they  got  into  the  habit  of  disre 
garding  the  day  as  one  for  rest,  and  did  many  things 
Sunday  that  would  not  be  allowed  in  the  North.  At 
that  time,  if  you  should  go  through  the  South  on 
those  large  cotton  and  rice  plantations,  while  you 
would  find  some  dancing  on  Sunday,  others  would  be 
in  the  woods  and  fields  hunting  rabbits  and  other 
game,  and  some  would  be  killing  pigs  belonging  to 
their  masters  or  neighbors.  I  remember  when  a 
small  boy  I  went  into  the  woods  one  Sunday  morning 
with  one  of  my  fellow  negroes  whose  name  was 
Munson,  but  we  called  him  Pash,  and  we  killed  one 
of  master's  pigs,  hid  it  under  the  leaves  until  night, 
then  took  it  home  and  dressed  it.  That  was  the  only 


47 

time  I  killed  a  pig,  but  I  knew  of  thousands  of  cases 
like  this  in  the  time  of  slavery.  But  thank  God,  the 
year  of  Jubilee  has  come,  and  the  negroes  can  return 
from  dancing,  from  hunting,  and  from  the  master's 
pig  pens  on  Sundays  and  become  observers  of  the 
Sabbath,  of  good  moral  habits  and  men  of  equal 
rights  before  the  law. 

PUNISHMENTS    INFLICTED    ON    DIFFERENT    ONES. 

One  of  my  fellow  negroes,  who  belonged  to  Col. 
M.  R.  Singleton,  visited  the  plantation  of  the  Col.'s 
sister  ;  the  overseer  of  that  plantation  had  forbidden 
strangers  to  go  there,  but  this  man,  whose  name  was 
Harry,  would  go.  The  overseer  heard  of  him  but 
could  not  catch  him,  but  the  overseer  of  master's 
place  sent  him  to  Mr.  Jackson  (the  overseer  of  mas 
ter's  sister's  place).  Mr.  Jackson  tied  him  and  hit 
him  three  hundred  lashes  and  then  said  to  him, 
11  Harry,  if  you  were  not  such  a  good  nigger  I  should 
have  given  you  a  first  class  whipping,  but  as  you  are 
a  good  fellow,  and  I  like  you  so  well,  I  thought  I 
would  give  you  a  light  flogging  now  ;  you  must  be  a 
good  nigger  and  behave  yourself,  for  if  I  ever  have 
to  take  hold  of  you  again,  I  shall  give  you  a  good 
whipping."  When  Mr.  Jackson  had  loosed  him  from 
where  he  had  tied  him,  Harry  was  so  exhausted  that 
he  fell  down,  so  Mr.  Jackson  sent  him  home  in  a  cart, 
and  he  had  to  stay  at  home  from  work  a  month  or 
two,  and  was  never  the  same  man  again. 

THE    PUNISHMENT   AND    SALE    OF    MONDAY. 

There  was  a  man  who  belonged  to  master  by  the 
name  of  Monday,  who  was  a  good,  field  hand  \  in 


48 

summer  the  tasks  generally  performed  by  the  slaves 
were  more  than  they  could  do,  and  in  consequence 
they  were  severely  whipped,  but  Monday  would  not 
wait  to  be  whipped,  but  would  run  away  before  the 
overseer  or  driver  could  get  to  him.  Sometimes  mas 
ter  would  hire  a  white  man  who  did  nothing  else  but 
hunt  runaway  slaves  for  a  living;  this  man  would 
take  from  fifteen  to  twenty  hounds  with  him  to  hunt 
Monday,  but  often  he  would  be  out  three  or  four 
months  ;  when  he  was  caught  and  brought  home,  he 
was  put  in  prison  and  was  whipped  every  day  for  a 
week  or  two,  but  just  as  soon  as  he  could  he  would 
run  away  again 

At  one  time  when  he  had  been  brought  home,  one 
of   his   arms  was  tied  and  he  was  put  in  care  of  a 
keeper   who   made  him  work  with  the  other  slaves, 
days,    and    put    him    in    confinement     nights,    but 
for  all  this  he  got  away  from  his  keeper  and  went 
into  the  woods  again.      The  last  time  he  ran  away 
two  white  men  were   hired   to   hunt  him  ;    they  had 
.about  twenty  five  blood  hounds,  but  this  time  Mon 
day  fell  in  with  another  slave  who  had  ran  away  from 
his  master  and  had  been  in  the  woods  seven  years,  and 
they  together  were  able  to  kill  a  greater  portion  of  the 
hounds.     Finally  the  white  men  caught  his  compan 
ion,  but  did  not  catch  Monday,  though  they  chased 
him   two   or   three   days   longer,  but  he  came  home 
himself;  they  did  not  whip  him  and  he  went  to  work 
in  the  field.     Things  went  on  very  nicely  with  him 
for  two  or  three  weeks,  until  one  day  a  white  man 
was  seen  riding  through  the  fields  with  the  overseer  ; 
of  course  the  slaves  did  not  mistrust  his  objVct,  as 
white  men  often  visited  master's  plantation,  but  that 


49 

night,  when  all  the  slaves  were  sleeping,  the  man 
that  was  seen  in  the  daytime  went  to  the  door  of 
Monday's  cabin  and  called  him  out  of  his  bed,  and 
when  he  had  come  to  his  door,  the  stranger,  whom  he 
had  never  seen  before  that  day,  handcuffed  him  and 
said,  "  You  now  belong  to  me."  Most  of  the  slaves 
found  it  out,  as  Monday  was  put  in  a  cart  and  carried 
through  the  streets  of  the  negro  quarters,  and  there 
was  quite  an  excitement,  but  Monday  was  never 
heard  from  again. 

THE    STORY    OF    JAMES    HAY. 

There  was  a  slave  named  James  Hay,  who  belonged 
to  a  neighbor  of  master's  ;  he  was  punished  a  great 
many  times  because  he  could  not  get  his  task  done. 
The  other  slaves  pitied  him  because  he  seemed 
unable  to  perform  his  task.  One  evening  he  got  a 
severe  whipping  ;  the  next  morning  as  the  slaves  were 
having  their  tasks  assigned  them,  an  old  lady  by  the 
name  of  Aunt  Patience  went  by,  and  said,  "  Never 
mind,  Jim,  my  son,  the  Lord  will  help  you  with  your 
task  today  ; "  he  answered,  "  Yes,  ma'am."  He  began 
his  work  very  faithfully  and  continued  until  it 
was  half  done,  then  he  lay  down  under  a  tree ;  the 
others,  not  understanding  his  motive,  thought  he  was 
tired  and  was  taking  a  rest,  but  he  did  not  return  to 
his  task  until  the  overseer  called  him  and  asked  him 
why  he  did  not  have  his  work  nearer  done.  He  said, 
"  Aunt  Patience  told  me  dis  morning  that  the  Lord 
would  help  me  today,  and  I  thought  as  I  did  half  of 
the  task,  the  Lord  might  have  finished  the  other  half 
if  he  intended  to  help  me  at  all."  The  overseer  said 
"  You  see  that  the  Lord  did  not  come  to  help  you  and 


50 

we  shall  not  wait  for  him,  but  we  will  help  you ;  "  so 
Jim  got  a  severe  punishment.  Sometime  after  this, 
Jim  Hay  was  called  upon  by  some  professors  of 
religion  ;  they  asked  him  if  he  was  not  tired  of  serv 
ing  the  devil,  and  told  him  that  the  Lord  was  good 
and  had  helped  many  of  his  people,  and  would  help 
all  who  asked  him  and  then  take  them  home  to 
heaven.  Jim  said  that  if  the  Lord  would  not  do  half 
an  acre  of  his  task  for  him  when  he  depended  on  him, 
he  did  not  think  he  could  trust  him,  and  Jim  never 
became  a  Christian  to  my  knowledge. 

THE    STORY    OF    MR.    USOM    AND    JACK. 

One  Sunday  when  the  boys  were  at  the  overseer's, 
Mr.  Usom's  house,  as  we  generally  were,  he  said  to 
one,  "  Jack,  don't  you  think  that  hell  is  a  very  hot 
place,  if  it  is  as  they  describe  it  ?  "  Jack  said,  "  Yes, 
massa."  Mr.  Usom  said,  "  Well,  how  do  you  think  it 
will  be  with  poor  fellows  that  have  to  go  there?" 
"  Well,  Massa  Bob,  I  will  tell  you  what  I  tinks  about 
it,  I  tinks  us  niggers  need  not  trouble  usselves  about 
hell,  as  the  white  folks."  "  How  is  that,  Jack  ?  " 
Jack  answered,  "  Because  us  niggers  have  to  work 
out  in  the  hot  sun,  and  if  we  go  to  hell  it  would  not 
be  so  bad  for  us  because  us  used  to  heat,  but  it  will 
be  bad  for  white  folks  because  they  is  not  used  to  hot 
weather.'7 

THE    STORY    OP    JAMES    SWINE    AND    HIS    DEATH. 

There  was  a  negro  who  belonged  to  one  Mr. 
Clarkson ;  he  was  called  Jim  Swine  ;  his  right  name 
was  James,  but  he  was  called  Jim  Swine  because  he 
loved  hog  meat  and  would  often  steal  hogs  from  his 


51 

master  or  from  the  neighbors ;  he  was  a  very  able- 
bodied  man,  weighing  about  two  hundred  and  twenty- 
five  pounds,  and  a  very  good  field  hand.  Of  course 
it  is  generally  known  that  a  great  many  of  the  slaves 
were  poorly  fed,  so  it  was  natural  that  they  should 
take  anything  they  could  to  sustain  life.  As  his 
master  had  only  a  few  hogs,  he  stole  many  from  the 
neighbors  and  was  punished  a  great  many  times  for 
it. 

Sometimes  he  was  punished  when  a  hog  was  miss 
ing,  even  though  they  did  not  find  the  meat  with  him. 
Jim  was  not  in  the  habit  of  running  away  much,  but 
if  they  whipped  him  when  he  had  not  stolen  the  hog 
they  accused  him  of  taking,  he  would  go  away  into 
the  woods  and  stay  until  he  got  ready  to  come  home. 
He  was  so  strong  that  they  were  afraid  of  him  ;  three 
or  four  men  would  not  attack  him  when  in  the  woods. 
The  last  time  Jim  stole  hogs  he  was  caught  in  the  act 
of  taking  one  from  my  master,  Col.  Singleton. 
They  tied  him,  and  Mr.  Clarkson's  overseer  was  sent 
for,  who  was  his  own  son,  Thomas  Clarkson.  Jim 
was  taken  home,  whipped,  and  a  cured  middling  of  a 
hog  was  tied  around  his  neck ;  he  was  then  made  to 
work  along  with  the  other  slaves  in  the  day  and  was 
put  in  prison  in  the  night  for  two  weeks.  One  morn 
ing  when  the  overseer  went  to  his  place  of  confine 
ment  to  take  him  into  the  field,  he  found  him  dead, 
with  a  large  piece  of  meat  hanging  to  his  neck.  The 
news  of  his  death  soon  went  abroad,  also  the  cause 
of  it,  and  when  old  Mr.  Clarkson  found  it  out  he 
was  very  angry  at  his  son  Thomas,  and  his  punish 
ment  was,  that  he  was  driven  from  his  plantation 
with  orders  never  to  return,  and  that  he  should  not 


52 

have  any  of  his  property.  This  seemed  to  grieve 
Thomas  very  much,  and  he  made  several  attempts  to 
regain  his  father's  affections,  but  failed.  Finally,  one 
night,  Thomas  made  an  outcry  that  he  had  found  a 
pearl  of  great  price,  that  the  Lord  had  pardoned  his 
sins,  and  that  he  was  at  peace  with  all  mankind. 
When  his  father  heard  of  this,  he  sent  for  him  to 
come  home,  and  he  gave  him  quite  a  sum  of  money 
and  willed  him  the  portion  of  property  that  he  had 
said  he  should  keep  from  him.  But  poor  Jim  was  not 
there  to  forgive  him. 

A   MAN    MISTAKEN    FOR   A    HOG. 

Two  negroes  went  to  steal  hogs  from  their  masters. 
The  swine  were  under  a  barn,  as  in  the  South  barns 
were  made  high  enough  for  hogs  to  stand  under.  The 
man  who  went  under  the  barn  said  to  the  other, 
you  must  strike  the  hog  that  goes  the  slowest ;  then 
he  went  under  the  barn  on  his  knees  to  drive  them 
out  while  the  other  stood  with  his  club  ready  to 
strike,  but  they  ran  out  so  fast  he  could  not  hit 
them,  except  the  last  as  he  thought,  which  came  just 
slow  enough,  and  he  struck.  While  the  supposed 
hog  was  kicking,  he  jumped  upon  it  to  stab  it  with 
his  knife  but  found  it  was  his  companion. 

CUSTOM    OF    WITCHES    AMONG    SLAVES. 

The  witches  among  slaves  were  supposed  to  have 
been  persons  who  worked  with  them  every  day,  and 
were  called  old  hags  or  jack  lanterns.  Those,  both 
men  and  women,  who,  when  they  had  grown  old 
looked  old,  were  supposed  to  be  witches.  Sometimes, 
after  eating  supper,  the  negroes  would  gather  in  each 


53 

other's  cabins  which  looked  over  the  large  openings 
on  the  plantation,  and  when  they  would  see  a  light 
at  a  great  distance  and  see  it  open  and  shut,  they 
would  say,  "  there  is  an  old  hag,"  and  if  it  caine  from 
a  direction  in  which  those  lived  whom  they  called 
witches,  one  would  say,  "  Dat  looks  like  old  Aunt 
Susan ;  "  another  would  say,  "  No,  dat  look  like  man 
hag;"  still  another,  "I  tink  dat  look  like  ole  Uncle 
Rerity." 

When  the  light  had  disappeared  they  said  that  the 
witch  had  got  into  the  plantation  and  changed  itself 
into  a  person  and  had  gone'  about  on  the  place  talking 
with  the  people  like  others  until  those  whom  it 
wanted  to  bewitch  went  to  bed,  then  it  would  change 
itself  to  a  witch  again.  They  claimed  that  the 
witches  rode  human  beings  like  horses,  and  that  the 
spittle  that  ran  on  the  side  of  the  cheek  when  one 
slept,  was  the  bridle  that  the  witch  rode  with.  Some 
times  a  baby  would  be  smothered  by  its  mother,  and 
they  would  charge  it  to  a  witch.  If  they  went  out 
hunting  at  night  and  were  lost,  it  was  believed  that  a 
witch  had  led  them  off,  especially  if  they  fell  into  a 
pond  or  creek.  I  was  very  much  troubled  with 
witches  when  a  little  boy  and  am  now  sometimes, 
but  it  is  only  when  I  eat  a  hearty  supper  and  imme 
diately  go  to  bed.  It  was  said  by  some  of  the  slaves 
that  the  witches  would  sometimes  go  into  the  rooms 
of  the  cabins  and  hide  themselves  until  the  family 
went  to  bed,  and  therefore  when  any  one  claimed  that 
he  had  gone  into  the  apartment  before  bed  time  and 
thought  he  had  seen  a  witch,  if  he  had  an  old 
Bible  in  the  cabin,  that  would  betaken  into  the  room, 
and  the  person  who  carried  the  Bible  would  say  as  he 


54 

went  in,  "  In  de  name  of  de  Fader  and  of  de  Son  and 
de  Holy  Gos  wat  you  want  ?  "  Then  the  Bible  would 
be  put  in  the  corner  where  the  person  thought  he  had 
seen  the  witch,  as  it  was  generally  believed  that  if 
this  were  done  the  witch  could  not  stay.  When  they 
could  not  get  the  Bible  they  used  red  pepper  and  salt 
pounded  together  and  scattered  in  the  room,  but  in 
this  case  they  generally  felt  the  effects  of  it  more 
than  the  witch,  for  when  they  went  to  bed  it  made 
them  cough  all  night.  When  I  was  a  little  boy  my 
mother  sent  me  into  the  cabin  room  for  something, 
and  as  I  got  in  I  saw  something  black  and  white,  but 
did  not  stop  to  see  what  it  was,  and  running  out  said 
there  was  a  witch  in  the  room.  But  father,  having 
been  born  in  Africa,  did  not  believe  in  such  things,  so 
he  called  me  a  fool  and  whipped  me  and  the  witch 
got  scared  and  ran  out  the  door.  It  turned  out  to 
be  our  own  black  and  white  cat  that  we  children 
played  with  every  day.  Although  it  proved  to  be 
the  cat,  and  father  did  not  believe  in  witches,  still  I 
held  the  idea  that  there  were  such  things,  for  I 
thought  the  majority  of  the  people  believed  it,  and 
that  they  ought  to  know  more  than  could  one  man. 
Sometime  after  I  was  free,  in  travelling  from  Colum 
bia  to  Camden,  a  distance  of  about  thirty-two  miles, 
night  overtook  me  when  about  half  way  there;  it  was 
very  dark  and  rainy,  and  as  I  approached  a  creek  I 
saw  a  great  number  of  lights  of  those  witches  opening 
and  shutting.  I  did  not  know  what  to  do  and  thought 
of  turning  back,  but  when  I  looked  behind  I  saw  some 
witches  in  the  distance,  so  I  said,  "  If  I  turn  back 
those  will  meet  me  and  I  shall  be  in  as  much  danger 
as  if  I  go  on,  and  I  thought  of  what  some  of  my  fel- 


55 

low  negroes  bad  said  about  tbeir  leading  men  into 
ponds  and  creeks.  There  was  a  creek  just  abead,  so  I 
concluded  that  I  should  be  drowned  that  night ;  how 
ever,  I  went  on,  as  I  saw  no  chance  of  turning  back. 
When  I  came  near  the  creek  one  of  the  witches  flew 
into  my  face.  I  jumped  back  and  grasped  it,  but  it 
proved  to  be  one  of  those  lightning  bugs,  and  I  thought 
that  if  all  the  witches  were  like  that  one,  I  should  not 
be  in  any  great  danger  from  them. 

THE   DEATH    OF    CYRUS    AND    STEPNEY. 

Old  Col.  Dick  Singleton  had  several  state  places  as 
I  have  mentioned.  In  the  South,  the  rich  men  who 
had  a  great  deal  of  money  bought  all  the  plantations 
they  could  get  and  obtained  them  very  cheap.  The 
Colonel  had  some  ten  or  twenty  places  and  had  slaves 
settled  on  each  of  them. 

He  had  four  children,  and  after  each  had  received 
a  plantation,  the  rest  were  called  state  places,  and 
these  could  not  be  sold  until  all  the  grandchildren 
should  become  of  age ;  after  they  all  had  received 
places,  the  rest  could  be  sold. 

One  of  the  places  was  called  Biglake.  The  slaves 
on  these  places  were  treated  more  cruelly  than  on 
those  where  the  owner  lived,  for  the  overseers  had 
full  sway. 

One  day  the  overseer  at  Biglake  punished  the 
slaves  so  that  some  of  them  fell  exhausted.  When 
he  came  to  the  two  men,  Cyrus  and  Stepney,  they  re 
sisted,  but  were  taken  by  force  and  severely  pun 
ished.  A  few  days  afterwards  the  overseer  died, 
and  those  two  men  were  taken  up  and  hanged  on  the 
plantation  without  judge  or  jury. 


56 

After  that  another  overseer  was  hired,  with  orders 
to  arm  himself,  and  every  slave  who  did  not  submit 
to  his  punishment  was  to  be  shot  immediately.  At 
times,  when  the  overseer  was  angry  with  a  man  he 
would  strike  him  on  the  head  with  a  club  and  kill  him 
instantly,  and  they  would  bury  him  in  the  field. 
Some  would  run  away  and  come  to  M.  R.  Singleton, 
my  master,  but  he  would  only  tell  them  to  go  home 
and  behave.  Then  they  were  handcuffed  or  chained 
and  carried  back  to  Biglake,  and  when  we  would  hear 
from  them  again  the  greater  part  would  have  been 
murdered.  When  they  were  taken  from  master's 
place,  they  would  bid  us  good  bye  and  say  they  knew 
they  should  be  killed  when  they  got  home. 

Oh!  who  can  paint  the  sad  feeling  in  our  minds 
when  we  saw  these,  our  own  race,  chained  and 
carried  home  to  drink  the  bitter  cup  of  death  from 
their  merciless  oppressors,  with  no  one  near  to 
say,  "  Spare  him,  God  made  him,"  or  to  say,  "  Have 
mercy  on  him,  for  Jesus  died  for  him."  His  compan 
ions  dared  not  groan  above  a  whisper  for  fear  of 
sharing  the  same  fate  ;  but  thanks  that  the  voice  of 
the  Lord  was  heard  in  the  North,  which  said,  "  Go 
quickly  to  the  South  and  let  my  prison-bound  people 
go  free,  for  I  have  heard  their  cries  from  cotton, 
corn  and  rice  plantations,  saying,  how  long  before 
thou  wilt  come  to  deliver  us  from  this  chain  ?"  and 
the  Lord  said  to  them,  "  Wait,  I  will  send  you  John 
Brown  who  shall  be  the  key  to  the  door  of  your 
liberty,  and  I  will  harden  the  heart  of  Jefferson  Davis, 
your  devil,  that  I  may  show  him  and  his  followers  my 
power;  then  shall  I  send  you  Abraham  Lincoln,  mine 
angel,  who  shall  lead  you  from  the  land  of  bondage 


57 

to  the  land  of  liberty."  Our  fathers  all  died  in  "  the 
wilderness,"  but  thank  God,  the  children  reached 
"  the  promised  land." 

THE'WAY  THE  SLAVES  DETECTED  THIEVES  AMONG 
THEMSELVES. 

The  slaves  had  three  ways  of  detecting  thieves, 
one  with  a  Bible,  one  with  a  sieve,  and  another  with 
graveyard  dust.  The  first  way  was  this  :< — four  men 
were  selected,  one  of  whom  had  a  Bible  with  a  string 
attached,  and  each  man  had  his  own  part  to  perform. 
Of  course  this  was  done  in  the  night  as  it  was  the 
only  time  they  could  attend  to  such  matters  as 
concerned  themselves.  These  four  would  commence 
at  the  first  cabin  with  every  man  of  the  family,  and 
one  who  held  the  string  attached  to  the  Bible  would 
say,  "  John  or  Tom,"  whatever  the  person's  name  was, 
"  you  are  accused  of  stealing  a  chicken  or  a  dress  from 
Sam  at  such  a  time,"  then  one  of  the  other  two  would 
say,  "  John  stole  the  chicken, "  and  another  would 
say,  "  John  did  not  steal  the  chicken."  They  would 
continue  their  assertions  for  at  least  five  minutes,  then 
the  man  would  put  a  stick  in  the  loop  of  the  string 
that  was  attached  to  the  Bible,  and  holding  it  as  still 
as  he  could,  one  would  say,  "  Bible,  in  the  name  of 
the  Father  and  of  the  Son  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  if 
John  stole  that  chicken,  turn,"  that  is,  if  the  man  had 
stolen  what  he  was  accused  of,  the  Bible  was  to  turn 
around  on  the  string,  and  that  would  be  a  proof  that 
he  did  steal  it.  This  was  repeated  three  times  before 
they  left  that  cabin,  and  it  would  take  those  men  a 
month  sometimes  when  the  plantation  was  very  large, 
that  is  if  they  did  not  find  the  right  person  before 
they  got  through  the  whole  place. 


58 

The  second  way  they  had  of  detecting  thieves  was 
very  much  like  the  first,  only  they  used  a  sieve 
instead  of  a  Bible  ;  they  stuck  a  pair  of  scissors  in 
the  sieve  with  a  string  hitched  to  it  and  a  stick  put 
through  the  loop  of  the  string  and  the  same  words 
were  used  as  for  the  Bible.  Sometimes  the  Bible  and 
the  sieve  would  turn  upon  the  names  of  persons  whose 
characters  were  beyond  suspicion.  When  this  was  the 
case  they  would  either  charge  the  mistake  to  the  men 
who  fixed  the  Bible  and  the  sieve,  or  else  the  man 
who  was  accused  by  the  turning  of  the  Bible  and  the 
sieve,  would  say  that  he  passed  near  the  coop  from 
which  the  fowl  was  stolen,  then  they  would  say, 
"  Bro.  John  we  see  dis  how  dat  ting  work,  you  pass 
by  de  chicken  coop  de  same  night  de  hen  went  away." 

But  when  the  Bible  or  the  sieve  turned  on  the  name 
of  one  whom  they  knew  often  stole,  and  he  did  not 
acknowledge  that  he  had  stolen  the  chicken  of  which 
he  was  accused,  he  would  have  to  acknowledge  his 
previously  stolen  goods  or  that  he  had  thought  of 
stealing  at  the  time  when  the  chicken  or  the  dress 
was  stolen.  Then  this  examining  committee  would 
justify  the  turning  of  the  Bible  or  sieve  on  the  above 
statement  of  the  accused  person. 

The  third  way  of  detecting  thieves  was  taught  by 
the  fathers  and  mothers  of  the  slaves.  They  said  no 
matter  how  untrue  a  man  might  have  been  during  his 
life,  when  he  came  to  die  he  had  to  tell  the  truth  and 
had  to  own  everything  he  had  ever  done,  and  whatever 
dealing  those  alive  had  with  anything  pertaining  to 
the  dead,  must  be  true,  or  they  would  immediately 
die  and  go  to  hell  to  burn  in  fire  and  brimstone.  So 
in  consequence  of  this,  the  graveyard  dust  was  the 


59 

truest  of  the  three  ways  in  detecting  thieves.  The 
dust  would  be  taken  from  the  grave  of  a  person  who 
had  died  last  and  put  into  a  bottle  with  water.  Then 
two  of  the  men  of  the  examining  committee  would 
use  the  same  words  as  in  the  case  of  the  Bible  and 
the  sieve,  "  John  stole  that  chicken,"  "  John  did  not 
steal  that  chicken,"  and  after  this  had  gone  on  for 
about  five  minutes,  then  one  of  the  other  two  who  at 
tended  to  the  Bible  and  the  sieve  would  say,  "  John, 
you  are  accused  of  stealing  that  chicken  that  was 
taken  from  Sam's  chicken  coop  at  such  a  time."  "In 
the  name  of  the  Father  and  the  Son  and  the  Holy 
Ghost,  if  you  have  taken  Sam's  chicken  don't  drink 
this  water,  for  if  you  do  you  will  die  and  go  to  hell 
and  be  burned  in  tire  and  brimstone,  but  if  you  have 
not  you  may  take  it  and  it  will  not  hurt  you."  So  if 
John  had  taken  the  chicken  he  would  own  it  rather 
than  take  the  water. 

Sometimes  those  whose  characters  were  beyond 
suspicion  would  be  proven  thieves  when  they  tried 
the  graveyard  dust  and  water.  When  the  right  per 
son  was  detected,  if  he  had  any  chickens  he  had  to 
give  four  for  one,  and. if  he  had  none  he  made  it  good 
by  promising  that  he  would  do  so  no  more.  If 
all  the  men  on  the  plantation  passed  through  the  ex 
amination  and  no  one  was  found  guilty,  the  stolen 
goods  would  be  charged  to  strangers.  Of  course  these 
customs  were  among  the  negroes  for  their  own  benefit, 
for  they  did  not  consider  it  stealing  when  they  took 
anything  from  their  master. 

JOSH  AND  THE  CORN. 

A  man  engaged  in  stripping  fodder  put  some  green 


60 

ears  of  corn  in  the  fire  to  roast  as  the  slaves  generally 
do  in  fodder  stripping  time,  although  they  were 
whipped  when  caught.  Before  the  ears  were  roasted 
enough,  the  overseer  approached,  and  Josh  took  the 
ears  out  with  some  live  coals  stuck  to  them  and  put 
them  in  his  shirt  bosom.  In  running  away  his  clothes 
took  fire  and  Josh  jumped  into  a  creek  to  put  it  out. 
The  overseer  said  to  him,  "Josh,  what  are  you  doing 
there  ?"  He  answered,  "It  is  so  warm  today  I 
taught  I  would  go  in  de  creek  to  git  cool  off,  sir." 
"  Well,  have  you  got  cooled  off,  Josh?"  "  Oh  !  yes, 
sir,  very  much  cooler,  sir." 

Josh  was  a  very  hearty  eater,  so  that  the  peck  of 
corn  flour  allowed  the  slaves  for  a  week's  ration 
lasted  him  only  a  half.  He  used  to  lug  large  sticks 
of  wood  on  his  shoulders  from  the  woods,  which 
was  from  a  mile  to  a  mile  and  a  half  away,  to  first 
one  and  then  another  of  his  fellow  negroes,  who 
gave  him  something  to  eat ;  and  in  that  way  he  made 
out  his  week's  rations. 

His  habit  was  to  bring  the  wood  at  night,  throw  it 
down  at  the  cabin  door,  and,  as  he  walked  in,  some 
one  of  the  family  would  say,  "Well,  Josh,  you  fetched 
us  a  piece  of  wood."  He  would  burst  into  one  of 
his  jolly  laughs  and  answer,  "  Yes."  Soon  after  they 
had  given  him  something  to  eat,  Josh  would  bid  them 
good  night,  but  when  he  went,  the  wood  disappeared 
too.  He  would  throw  it  down  at  another  cabin  door 
as  before,  go  in  and  get  something  to  eat ;  but  every 
time  when  he  went  away  the  wood  would  be  missing 
until  he  had  found  enough  to  eat,  when  he  would 
leave  it  at  the  last  cabin.  Those  to  whom  Josh  car 
ried  the  wood  accused  others  of  stealing  it,  and  when 


61 

they  asked  him  about  it,  he  only  laughed  and  said 
that  the  wood  was  at  the  door  when  he  came  out. 

Josh  continued  the  trick  for  quite  a  while.  Finally 
one  night  he  brought  a  stick  of  wood  and  threw  it 
down  at  a  cabin  door,  walked  in  and  got  something 
to  eat  as  usual.  But  as  he  came  in,  the  man  of  the 
family,  to  whom  he  carried  the  wood,  bade  him  good 
night,  and  said  that  he  had  business  out  which  would 
keep  him  so  late,  that  Josh  would  be  gone  before  he 
got  back.  While  Josh  was  busy  laughing  and  talk 
ing  with  the  rest  of  the  family  the  man  went  otft,  and 
secreted  himself  in  the  chimney  corner  of  another 
cabin,  and  it  was  not  long  after  he  took  his  stand 
before  Josh  bade  the  family  good  night,  came  out 
whistling,  and  shouldered  the  wood,  but  as  he  started 
off  the  watchman  cried  out,  "  Is  that  you,  Josh  ?" 
Josh  threw  the  wood  down  and  answered,  "  0  no, 
tisn't  me."  Of  course  Josh  was  so  funny  one 
couldn't  get  angry  with  him  if  he  wanted  to ;  but  the 
rest  of  the  slaves  found  out  after  that  how  the  wood 
Josh  brought  them,  was  missing. 

But  poor  Josh  died  at  last,  away  from  home  ;  he 
was  sent  with  some  of  the  other  negroes  from  Mrs. 
M.  R.  Singleton's  plantation  at  Columbia,  in  the  year 
1864,  to  build  fortifications  as  a  defence,  under  Gen. 
Wade  Hampton  against  Gen.  Sherman,  and  while 
there  he  was  taken  sick  and  died,  under  the  yoke  of 
slavery,  having  heard  of  freedom  but  not  living  to  en 
joy  it. 

RUNAWAY    SLAVES. 

'My  readers,  have,  no  doubt,    already   heard    that 
there  were  men  in  the  South  who  made  it  their  busi- 


62 

ness  in  the  days  of  slavery  to  raise  and  train  hounds 
especially  to  hunt  slaves  with.  Most  of  the  owners 
hired  such  men  on  condition  that  they  were  to  capture 
and  return  their  runaway  slaves,  without  being  bruised 
and  torn  by t the  dogs.  The  average  sums  paid  hunt 
ers  were  ten,  fifteen  and  twenty-five  dollars  for  cap 
turing  a  slave ;  very  many  times,  these  sums  were 
taken  from  the  overseer's  salary,  as^they  were  more 
or  less  the  cause  of  slaves  running  away. 

My  readers  want  to  know  whether  the  runaway 
slaves  ever  returned  to  the  overseers  and  their  masters 
without  being  caught  by  the  hunters.  Sometimes 
they  did  and  sometimes  they  never  returned.  Some 
stayed  their  lifetime ;  others,  who  would  have  re 
turned,  fell  sick  and  died  in  the  woods. 

My  readers  ask,  how  did  the  slaves  at  home  know 
when  their  fellow  negroes,  the  runaways,  sickened  or 
died  in  the  woods.  In  general,  some  one  on  the  plan 
tation  from  which  they  ran  away,  or  confidential 
friends  on  some  other  plantation,  had  communication 
with  them,  so  that  if  anything  happened  to  them  the 
slaves  at  home  would  find  out  through  such  parties. 
And  sometimes  the  masters  and  overseers  would  find 
out  about  their  death,  but  indirectly,  however,  be 
cause  if  it  was  known  that  any  one  on  the  plantation 
had  dealings  with  the  runaway,  he  would  be  punished, 
even  though  the  information  should  be  gladly  re 
ceived  by  the  master  and  overseer. 

Sometimes  groups  of  runaway  slaves,  of  eight,  ten 
and  even  twenty,  belonging  to  different  owners,  got 
together  in  the  woods,  which  made  it  very  difficult 
and  dangerous  for  slave  hunters  to  capture  those 
whom  they  were  hired  to  hunt.  In  such  cases  some- 


63 

times  these  runaways  killed  both  hunters  and  dogs. 
The  thick  forests  in  which  they  lived  could  not  be 
searched  on  horseback,  neither  could  man  or  dog  run 
in  them.  The  only 'chances  the  hunters  had  of  catch 
ing  runaway  slaves  were  either  to  rout  them  from 
those'  thick  forests  or  attack  them  when  they  came 
out  in  the  opening  to  seek  food. 

Of  course  the  runaways  were  mostly  armed,  and 
when  attacked  in  the  forests  they  would  fight.  My 
readers  ask,  how  had  they  obtained  arms  and  what 
were  those  arms,  since  slaves  were  not  allowed  to  have 
deadly  weapons  ?  Some  had  large  knives  made  by 
their  fellow  negroes  who  were  blacksmiths,  others 
stole  guns  from  white  men  who  were  accustomed  to 
lay  them  carelessly  around  when  they  were  out  hunt 
ing  game.  The  runaways  who  stole  the  guns  were 
kept  in  powder  and  shot  by  some  of  the  other  slaves 
at  home,  who  bought  such  from  poor  white  men  who 
kept  little  country  stores  in  the  different  parts  of  the 
South. 

The  runaway  slaves  generally(had  fathers,  brothers, 
cousins,  or  confidential  friends  who  met  them  at 
certain  appointed  places,  and  brought  them  such 
things  as  were  needed.  The  most  they  wanted  from 
their  fellow  negroes  at  home  was  salt  and  a  little 
corn  flour ;  for  they  lived  principally  on  beef  and 
swine  meat,  taken  either  from  their  own  masters  or 
some  other's  stock. 

My  readers  ask,  did  not  some  of  the  slaves  at  home 
betray  their  fellow  negroes,  the  runaways,  to  the 
white  man  ?  I  answer,  they  did  ;  but  often  such 
were  well  spotted,  and  if  the  runaway  slaves  got  a 
chance  at  them  while  in  the  woods  would  mob  or  kill 


64 

them.  On  the  other  hand  when  they  met  those 
whom  they  could  trust,  instead  of  injuring  them, 
they  exchanged  beef  and  swine  meat  with  them 
for  bread,  corn  flour,  and  salt,  such  as  they  needed  in 
the  woods. 

THE    RUNAWAY    SLAVES    IN    THE    HOUSE. 

Instead  of  going  into  the  woods,  sometimes  run 
away  slaves  lived  right  around  the  overseer's  and 
master's  houses  for  months.  A  slave,  named  Isom, 
ran  away  from  Thomas  Clarkson,  his  master's  son, 
who  was  the  overseer.  Mr.  Clarkson  was  satisfied, 
as  he  said,  that  the  unaccustomed  runaway,  whom  he 
thought  was  in  the  woods  could  not  stay  from  home 
long,  but  finding  that  he  stayed  longer  than  expected, 
Mr.  Clarkson  hired  a  slave  hunter  with  his  dogs  to 
hunt  him. 

The  hunter  came  early  to  the  plantation  and  took 
breakfast  with  Mr.  Clarkson  on  the  day  they  began 
to  hunt  for  the  runaway  slave.  While  sitting  at 
breakfast,  Mr.  Clarkson  said  to  the  hunter,  "  My 
father  brought  up  that  boy  as  a  house  servant,  and 
petted  him  so  that  it  takes  all  the  salt  in  the  country 
to  cure  him.  Father  had  too  much  religion  to  keep 
his  negroes  straight ;  but  I  don't  believe  in  that.  I 
think  a  negro  ought  to  be  overhauled  every  little 
while  to  keep  him  in  his  place,  and  that  is  just  the 
reason  why  I  took  the  overseership  on  this  planta 
tion. 

The  Hunter.  "Well,  what  caused  your  boy  to  run 
away,  Mr.  Clarkson  ?  " 

Mr.  Clarkson.  "  Well  he  ran  away  because  I  gave 
him  an  overhauling,  to  keep  him  in  the  place  of  a  ne 
gro." 


65 

Mr.  Clarkson's  wife.  "  Well,  Thomas,  I  told  you 
the  other  day,  before  you  did  it,  that  I  didn't  see  any 
need  of  your  whipping  Isom,  because  I  thought  he 
was  a  good  boy." 

Mr.  Clarkson.  "  Yes,  my  dear,  if  South  Carolina 
had  many  more  such  Presbyterians  as  you  and  Father 
Boston  (he  meant  old  Mr.  Clarkson),  in  a  short  time 
there  would  be  no  slaves  in  the  state ;  then  who 
would  you  have  to  work  for  you  ?  " 

I  wish  to  state  a  fact  to  my  readers.  While  there 
were  exceptions,  as  a  general  thing  the  Presbyterians 
made  better  masters  than  did  any  other  denomination 
among  the  slave  holders  in  the  South. 

Mrs.  Clarkson.  "  Yes,  Thomas,  if  you  were  such  a 
Presbyterian  as  you  charged  Father  Boston  and  me 
with  being,  you  could  have  saved  yourself  the  trouble 
and  money  which  it  will  cost  to  hunt  him.77 

Mr.  Clarkson.  "  Well,  we  will  not  discuss  the 
matter  of  religion  any  further.77  (To  the  hunter.) 
"That  boy  has  been  away  now  for  several  days  since  I 
whipped  him.  I  thought  that  he  would  have  returned 
home  long  before  this  time,  as  this  is  the  first  time 
he  has  ever  run  away ;  but  I  rather  conclude  that  he 
got  with  some  experienced  runaways.  Now  do  you 
think  that  you  can  capture  him  without  his  being 
hurt,  or  torn  by  your  dogs  ? 77 

Mrs.  Clarkson.  "  That  is  just  what  I  am  afraid 
will  be  done  to  that  boy.77 

The  Hunter.  "  0,  no  fear  of  that,  madam,  I  shall 
use  care  in  hunting  him.  I  have  but  one  dog  which 
is  dangerous  for  tearing  runaway  negroes  ;  I  will 
chain  him  here  until  I  capture  your  boy.7 ' 

The  hunter  blew  his  horn  which  gathered  his  dogs, 


66 

chained  the  one  he  spoke  of,  then  he  and  Mr.  Clark- 
son  started  on  a  chase  for  the  runaway  slave,  who, 
secreted  in  the  house,  had  heard  every  word  they  had 
said  about  him. 

After  the  hunter  and  Mr.  Clarkson  had  gone,  Mrs. 
Clarkson  went  to  her  room  (as  a  general  thing  the 
southern  mistresses  hardly  ever  knew  what  went  on 
in  their  dining  rooms  and  kitchens  after  meal  hours), 
and  Isom,  the  runaway  slave,  sat  at  the  same  table 
and  ate  his  breakfast. 

After  two  or  three  days  of  vain  search  in  the  woods 
for  the  runaway  slave,  Mr.  Clarkson  asked  some  of 
the  other  negroes  on  the  plantation,  if  they  saw  him, 
to  tell  him  if  he  came  home  he  would  not  whip  him. 
Of  course,  as  a  general  thing,  when  they  stayed  in 
the  woods  until  they  were  captured,  they  were 
whipped  but  they  were  not  when  they  came  home 
themselves.  One  morning  after  several  days  of 
fruitless  search  in  the  woods  for  the  runaway  slave 
by  the  overseer  and  the  hunter,  while  at  breakfast, 
Isom  came  up  to  the  door.  As  soon  as  Mr.  Clark- 
son  learned  that  the  runaway  slave  was  at  the  door 
he  got  up  from  his  breakfast  and  went  out. 

"  Well,  Isom,"  said  Mr.  Clarkson.  "  Well,  Massa 
Thomas,"  said  Isom.  "  Where  have  you  been?"  said 
Mr.  Clarkson.  "  I  been  in  the  woods,  sir,"  answered 
Isom.  Of  course  it  would  not  have  been  well  for 
him  to  tell  Mr.  Clarksom  that  he  was  hidden  and  fed 
right  in  the  house,  for  it  would  have  made  it  bad  for 
the  other  negroes  who  were  house  servants,  among 
whom  he  had  a  brother  and  sister. 

Mr.  Clarkson.  "  Isom,  did  you  get  with  some  other 
runaways?"  "  Yes,  sir,"  said  Isom.  Of  course 


67 

Isom's  answer  was  in  keeping  with  the  belief  of  Mr. 
Clarkson  that  he  had  got  in  with  some  experienced 
runaway  in  the  woods.  "  How  many  were  with  you?" 
asked  Mr.  Clarkson.  " Two,"  answered  Isom.  "What 
are  their  names,  and  to  whom  do  they  belong?"  asked 
Mr.  Clarkson.  "  I  don't  know,  sir,"  said  Isom. 
"  Didn't  you  ask  their  names?"  said  Mr.  Clarkson. 
"  No,  sir,"  said  Isom.  "  Can  you  describe  them?" 
asked  Mr.  Clarkson.  "  One  is  big,  like  you,  and  the 
other  was  little  like  the  man  who  was  hunting  me," 
said  Isom.  "  Where  did  you  see  the  hunter?"  asked 
Mr.  Clarkson.  "  In  the  woods,  sir/'  said  Isom- 
"  Isom,  do  you  want  something  to  eat?"  asked  Mr. 
Clarkson.  "  Yes,  sir,"  said  Isom.  He  sent  him 
around  to  the  kitchen  and  told  the  cook  to  give  him 
something  to  eat. 

Mrs.  Clarkson  thought  a  great  deal  of  Isom,  so 
while  he  was  in  the  kitchen  eating,  she  went  in  and 
had  a  long  talk  with  him  about  how  he  got  along 
since  he  had  been  away,  as  they  supposed. 

As  I  have  said,  in  general,  when  runaway  slaves 
came  home  themselves,  they  were  not  whipped,  but 
were  either  handcuffed  or  put  in  stocks,  and  locked 
up  for  two  or  three  days. 

While  Isom  was  eating  and  talking  with  Mrs. 
Clarkson,  Mr.  Clarkson  appeared  at  the  kitchen  door 
with  a  pistol  in  one  hand  and  handcuffs  in  the  other. 
Mrs.  Clarkson.  said,  "  What  are  you  going  to  do, 
Thomas?"  ft  I  want  Isom  as  soon  as  he  is  through 
eating,"  said  Mr.  Clarkson.  "  You  are  not  going  to 
lock  him  up,  are  you  Thomas?"  said  Mrs.  Clarkson. 
Mrs.  Clarkson's  name  was  Henrietta,  but  her  pet 
name  was  Henie.  Mr.  Clarkson  said.  "  Henie,  I 
shan't  hurt  Isom." 


68 

Isom,  who  had  a  smooth,  black,  round  face,  full 
eyes,  white  teeth,  was  a  very  beautiful  negro.  When 
he  saw  the  pistol  and  handcuffs  in  Mr.  Clarkson's 
hands,  those  large  eyes  of  his  were  stretched  so  wide, 
one  could  see  the  white,  like  great  sheets  in  them. 

Mrs.  Clarkson  said,  "  Thomas,  please  don't  lock  up 
Isom  ;  he  won't  run  away  again.  You  won't,  will  you 
Isom?"  "No,  mamma  massie  Henie,  I  won't,"  said 
Isom.  "Yes,  Henie,"  said  Mr.  Clarkson,  "he  says 
so,  but  will  he  not?"  "Thomas,"  said  Mrs.  Clark- 
son,  "  I  will  take  the  responsibility  if  you  do  as  I  ask 
you  to;  I  will  keep  Isom  around  the  house  and  will 
assure  you  that  he  will  not  run  away. 

Mr.  Clarkson  wanted  to  lock  Isom  up  very  much, 
but  he  knew  what  a  strong  will  his  wife  had,  and  how 
hard  it  would  be  to  get  her  right  when  she  had  got 
wrong,  hence  he  complied  with  her  request.  So  Isom 
worked  around  the  house  for  a  long  time.  The  hunter 
was  to  rest  a  few  days,  and  then  resume  his  work, 
but  Mr.  Clarkson  wrote  to  him  that  his  services  would 
be  no  longer  needed,  as  the  runaway  slave  whom  he 
was  employed  to  hunt  had  returned  himself.  I  never 
learned  whether  the  hunter  got  paid  for  what  he  had 
done. 

MR.  BLACK,  THE  SLAVE  HUNTER. 

There  was  a  white  man  in  Richland  County,  South 
Carolina,  named  Mr.  Black,  who  made  his  living  by 
hunting  runaway  slaves.  I  knew  him  as  well  as  I 
did  one  of  my  fellow  negroes  on  Col.  Singleton's 
plantation.  He  was  of  dark  complexion,  short  stature, 
spare  built,  with  long,  jet  black,  coarse  hair.  He 
bore  the  description  of  what  sonic  would  call  a  good 


69 

man,  but  he  was  quite  the  reverse;  he  was  one  of  the 
most  heartless  men  I  have  ever  seen. 

Mr.  Black  was  a  very  successful  hunter,  although 
sometimes  all  of  his  bloodhounds  were  killed  by 
runaway  slaves,  and  he  barely  escaped  with  his  life. 
He  used  to  ride  a  small  bay  mare  in  hunting,  which 
was  the  only  horse  he  owned.  She  was  a  thin,  raw- 
boned  creature  and  looked  as  though  she  could  hardly 
walk,  but  knew  the  business  about  as  well  as  her 
master;  and  in  such  troubles  as  above  stated  she  used 
to  carry  him  pretty  fast  out  of  danger.  Mr.  Black 
caught  several  runaway  slaves  belonging  to  Col.  Sin 
gleton. 

I  have  known  him  to  chase  runaway  slaves  out  of 
the  forest  right  through  the  colonel's  plantation, 
through  a  crowd  of  other  negroes,  and  his  dogs  would 
never  mistake  any  among  the  crowd  for  the  ones  they 
were  after.  When  these  hound  dogs  chased  the  runa 
ways  through  farms  in  that  way,  many  of  them  were 
killed  and  buried  in  the  cotton  or  corn  field  by  some 
among  the  crowd  of  negroes  through  which  they 
passed.  In  general  the  slaves  hated  bloodhounds,  and 
would  kill  them  any  time  they  got  a  chance,  but  es 
pecially  on  such  occasions  as  above  stated,  to  keep 
them  from  capturing  runaways. 

Once  eight  slaves  ran  away  from  Col.  Singleton's 
plantation,  and  Mr.  Black,  with  twenty-five  hound 
dogs,  was  hired  to  hunt  them  up.  The  dogs  struck 
trail  of  the  runaways  late  one  afternoon,  and  chased 
them  all  that  night,  during  which  time  they  got  scat 
tered.  Next  morning  three  of  the  runaways  were 
chased  through  a  crowd  of  their  fellow  negroes,  who 
were  working  in  the  cotton  field.  While  chasing  the 


70 

runaways  some  among  the  crowd  killed  six  of  the 
dogs,  including  the  two  leading  ones,  and  buried  them 
in  the  cotton  beds  or  rows,  as  we  used  to  call  them. 

Mr.  Black,  the  hunter,  though  a  mile  or  more  off, 
knew  that  something  had  happened  from  the  irregu 
lar  barking  of  the  other  dogs,  and  also  because  he 
did  not  hear  the  yelling  of  the  two  leading  dogs.  So 
he  blew  his  horn,  called  the  rest  of  his  dogs,  and 
gave  up  the  chase  until  he  had  replaced  his  leading 
dogs  by  others,  which  he  always  had  on  hand  at 
home. 

Slave  hunters  generally  had  one  or  two  among  the 
pack  of  hound  dogs,  called  trailers  or  leaders,  which 
the  others,  fifty  or  more,  were  trained  to  follow.  So 
if  anything  happened  to  the  leaders  while  on  chase, 
the  rest  would  become  confused,  and  could  not  follow 
the  runaway.  But  if  the  leaders  were  hurt  or  killed 
after  the  runaways  were  captured,  the  rest  would 
surround  and  guard  them  until  the  hunter  reached 
them,  as  he  was  always  a  mile  or  more  behind. 

After  the  leading  dogs  had  been  replaced,  Mr. 
Black  resumed  the  chase,  and  caught  some  of  the 
runaways,  but  the  rest  came  home  themselves. 

The  last  runaway  slave  Mr.  Black  was  hired  to 
Jiunt  belonged  to  Col.  M.  R.  Singleton,  and  was 
named  Dick,  but  instead  of  Dick  he  caught  a  slave 
belonging  to  a  man  in  Sumterville  county,  who  had 
been  in  the  woods  seven  years.  This  runaway  slave 
had  another  name  at  home,  but  while  in  the  woods 
had  assumed  the  name  of  Champion,  for  his  success 
in  keeping  slave  hunters  from  capturing  him  up  to 
that  time. 
Mr.  Black,  the  hunter,  chased  Dick  and  Champion 


71 

two  days  and  nights ;  on  the  morning  before  the  cap 
ture  of  the  latter  they  swam  across  the  Water-ree 
river.  After  they  got  across  they  were  separated  ; 
the  dogs  followed  Champion,  and  ran  him  down  that 
morning  about  eleven  o'clock.  Champion  had  a  gun 
and  pistol ;  as  the  first  dog  ran  up  and  opened  his 
mouth  to  take  hold  of  him  he  discharged  the  con 
tents  of  the  pistol  in  his  mouth  and  killed  him  in 
stantly.  The  rest  of  the  dogs  did  not  take  hold  of 
him,  but  surrounded  him  and  held  him  at  bay  until 
the  hunter  reached  the  spot. 

When  Mr.  Black  rode  up  within  gunshot,  Cham 
pion  aimed  at  him  with  a  loaded  double  barrel  gun, 
but  the  caps  of  both  barrels  snapped  from  being  wet 
by  running  through  the  bushes.  Mr.  Black  had  a  gun 
and  pistol,  too ;  he  attempted  to  shoot  the  negro,  but 
William  Turner,  Col.  Singleton's  overseer,  who  hired 
Mr.  Black  to  hunt  Dick,  the  runaway  from  the 
colonel's  plantation,  would  not  let  him  do  it.  Mr. 
Black  then  attempted  to  strike  Champion  with  the 
breech  of  his  gun,  but  Champion  kicked  him  down, 
and  as  he  drew  his  knife  to  stab  Mr.  Black,  Mr.  Tur 
ner,  the  overseer,  struck  him  on  the  back  of  his  head 
with  the  butt  of  a  loaded  whip.  This  stunned  him 
for  a  few  moments,  and  by  the  time  he  had  regained 
his  senses  they  had  handcuffed  him. 

After  the  negro  had  been  handcuffed,  Mr.  Black 
wanted  to  abuse  him,  because  he  had  killed  the  dog, 
and  attempted  to  shoot  him,  but  Mr.  Turner,  the 
overseer,  would  not  let  him.  Champion  was  taken  to 
Col.  Singleton's  plantation,  locked  up  in  the  dungeon 
under  the  overseer's  house,  and  his  master  was  noti 
fied  of  his  capture  ;  he  was  a  mulatto  negro,  and  his 


72 

master,  who  was  his  father,  sent  for  him  at  Col.  Sin 
gleton's  plantation ;  but  I  never  learned  whether  Mr. 
Black,  the  hunter,  was  ever  paid  for  capturing  him. 
Dick,  the  runaway  negro  from  Col.  Singleton's  place, 
came  home  himself  sometime  after  Champion,  his 
companion,  had  been  captured. 

Mr.  Black,  the  slave  hunter,  was  very  poor,  and 
had  a  large  family  ;  he  had  a  wife,  with  eight  or  ten 
helpless  children,  whom  I  knew  as  well  as  I  did  my 
fellow  negroes  on  the  colonel's  plantation.  But  as 
cruel  as  Mr.  Black  was  to  runaway  slaves,  his  family 
was  almost  wholly  supported  by  negroes ;  I  have 
known  in  some  cases  that  they  stole  from  their  mas 
ters  to  help  this  family.  The  negroes  were  so  kind 
to  Mr.  Black's  family  that  his  wife  turned  against 
him  for  his  cruelty  to  runaway  slaves. 

I  have  stated  that  some  of  the  masters  and  over 
seers  hired  the  hunters,  on  condition  that  they  would 
capture  and  return  the  runaway  slaves,  unbruised  and 
untorn  by  their  dogs  ;  while  others,  in  a  mad  fit  of 
passion,  would  say  to  them,  "  I  want  you  to  bring  my 
runaway  nigger  home,  dead  or  alive." 

All  of  the  slave  hunters  used  to  practice  cruelty 
upon  the  runaway  slaves ;  more  especially  upon  those 
whose  masters  would  say  to  hunters  "  bring  them 
dead  or  alive."  But  among  all  the  slave  hunters  in 
the  part  of  South  Carolina  where  the  author  of  this 
work  lived,  Mr.  Black  was  the  most  cruel. 

It  was  rumored  that  many  of  the  runaway  slaves 
that  were  never  heard  of  afterward,  were  captured 
and  killed  in  the  woods  by  Mr.  Black,  but  no  special 
clue  to  this  could  be  found.  Finally  Mr.  Black  was 
hired  to  capture  a  runaway  slave  in  Barnwell  County, 


73 

S.  C.  This  slave  was  with  another,  who  was  thought 
well  of  by  his  master,  but  hated  by  the  overseer.  In 
the  chase,  the  two  runaways  separated,  and  the  dogs 
followed  the  second  instead  of  the  one  whom  Mr. 
Black  had  been  hired  to  hunt.  Mr.  Black  had  another 
hunter  with  him  by  the  name  of  Motley.  The  negro 
killed  several  of  the  dogs,  and  gave  Messrs.  Black  and 
Motley  a  hard  fight.  After  the  negro  had  been  cap 
tured,  they  killed  him,  cut  him  up  and  gave  his  re 
mains  to  the  living  dogs. 

The  companion  of  the  murdered  slave  was  not 
caught.  A  few  days  after' the  chase,  while  wandering 
around  in  the  wood  in  a  somewhat  excited  state,  he 
came  to  a  spot  where  the  bushes  and  leaves  seemed  to 
have  been  in  a  stirred-up  condition,  as  though  there 
had  been  tussling  by  two  parties.  On  looking  around 
in  this  disordered  spot,  he  found  pieces  of  clothing 
here  and  there  in  rags,  looking  just  like  the  suit  worn 
by  his  companion,  who  was  then  a  victim  of  a  most 
cruel  death  from  the  hands  of  the  hunters.  On  closer 
examination,  he  saw  spots  of  blood  here  and  there  up 
on  the  leaves,  which  awakened  his  suspicion  ;  on  look 
ing  a  little  way  from  this  spot,  he  saw  some  leaves 
which  looked  as  though  they  had  been  moved  by 
hands  and  put  there,  and  on  removing  the  leaves,  he 
found  that  the  earth  had  been  freshly  dug  and  filled 
in  again.  Digging  down  in  the  spot,  he  soon  discov 
ered  pieces  of  the  person  of  a  dead  man,  whom  he 
could  not  identify,  but  was  satisfied  that  it  was  the  re 
mains  of  his  companion,  from  whom  he  had  been  com- 
pelled  to  separate  a  few  days  before.  This  sight 
frightened  the  runaway  negro  so,  that  he  left  the 
woods,  went  home  to  his  master  and  told  the  story  j 


74 

but  as  a  negro's  word  was  not  to  be  taken  against  a 
white  man's  in  the  days  of  slavery,  no  special  notice 
was  taken  of  what  he  had  said.  Still  some  of  the 
white  people  were  secretly  watching  Mr.  Black,  the 
slave  hiinter,  as  he  had  been  before  suspected  of 
killing  runaway  slaves  in  the  woods. 

The  master  of  the  murdered  negro  was  still  ignorant 
of  his  death  ;  he  was  in  hopes  that  his  slave  would  re 
turn.  But  finding  that  his  slave  did  not  return  as  ex 
pected,  the  master  became  uneasy,  and  offered  a 
reward  to  any  one  who  could  give  a  clue  of  his  negro. 
In  the  meantime,  he  discharged  the  overseer  who  had 
been  the  cause  of  his  slave  running  away  ;  and  he  also 
kept  the  overseer's  salary  of  four  hundred  dollars, 
which  was  the  annual  pay  for  overseering  his  planta 
tion. 

Mr.  Black's  house  was  in  Bichland  county,  and  as 
he  was  the  last  who  had  hunted  runaway  slaves  in 
Barnwell  county  before  the  murder,  suspicion  rested 
on  him.  Still  no  one  said  anything  to  him,  but  he 
was  very  closely  watched  by  men  of  his  own  county, 
whose  interest  was  not  in  the  hatefulness  of  the  crime 
committed,  but  rather  in  the  reward  offered  by  the 
master  to  any  who  could  give  information  of  his  run 
away  slave. 

Sometime  after  the  case  had  occurred,  another 
white  man  of  Richland  county  became  quite  a  friend 
to  Mr.  Black,  the  slave  hunter ;  this  apparent  friend 
ship  soon  led  Mr.  Black  to  tell  the  secret,  which 
speedily  brought  him  to  trial.  While  he  and  his  pre 
tended  friend  were  on  a  drinking  spree,  in  the  midst 
of  the  ^merriment, — of  course  the  conversation  was 
how  to  control  negroes,  as  that  was  the  principal 


75 

topic  of  the  poor  white  men  South,  in  the  days  of 
slavery. 

In  the  conversation,  this  friend  spoke  of  several  plans 
which  he  said,  if  properly  carried  out,  "  would  keep  a 
nigger  in  his  place."  After  the  friend  had  said  so 
much  to  Mr.  Black,  the  slave  hunter,  the  latter  felt 
that  he  could  tell  his  secret  without  endangering  him 
self,  so  he  answered :  "  The  way  to  show  a  nigger 
that  would  resist  a  white  man,  his  place,  is  to  put 
him  among  the  missing.  Not  long  since,  I  went  to 
Barnwell  county  to  hunt  a  runaway  nigger,  and  my 
dogs  struck  trail  of  another  instead  of  the  one  I 
wanted  to  capture.  After  quite  a  long  chase  my  dogs 
ran  him  down,  and  before  I  reached  him  he  killed 
several  of  them,  and  gave  me  a  hard  fight  when  I  got 
to  him.  Motley  and  I  were  together ;  I  shot  him  down, 
and  Motley  and  I  cut  him  up  and  gave  the  pieces  to 
the  remainder  of  my  dogs ;  that  is  the  way  I  put  a 
nigger  in  his  place." 

After  the  secret  had  been  revealed,  Mr.  Black's 
friend  excused  himself,  and  the  former  saw  him  no 
more  until  he  appeared  as  a  witness  against  him.  The 
companion  of  the  murdered  negro  was  summoned  to 
carry  the  investigating  party,  including  the  murderer, 
to  the  spot  where  his  companion  had  been  buried. 

Mr.  Black  was  tried  and  found  to  be  guilty.  After 
sentence  had  been  passed,  he  confessed  the  commis 
sion  of  that  crime,  and  also  told  that  he  had  killed 
several  runaway  negroes  previously  in  his  own  county. 
So  Mr.  Black  and  Motley,  his  companion,  were 
both  hanged  in  Barnwell  county,  S.  C.  The  system 
of  slavery  outlived  Mr.  Black,  the  slave  hunter,  just 
six  years. 


76 


MANNING    BROWN    AND    AUNT    BETTY. 

A  man  by  the  Dame  of  Manning  Brown  was  nursed 
by  an  old  colored  woman  he  called  mamma  Betty. 
She  was  naturally  good  natured  and  a  devout  Chris 
tian,  and  Mr.  Brown  gained  many  of  her  good  quali 
ties  when  he  was  under  her  entire  control,  at  which 
time  he  was  said  to  be  a  boy  of  very  fine  sense  of 
feeling  and  quite  promising.  But  when  approaching 
manhood  Mr.  Brown  fell  among  a  class  of  other  white 
men  who,  in  the  days  of  slavery,  were  unbridled  in 
their  habits.  With  this  class  of  men  he  began  to 
drink,  and  step  by  step  in  this  rapid  stride  he  soon 
became  a  confirmed  drunkard.  This  habit  so  over- 
coated  the  good  influence  he  had  gained  from  the 
colored  woman,  that  it  rendered  him  dangerous  not 
only  to  his  enemies,  but  also  to  his  friends. 

Manning  Brown  was  feared  by  most  of  the  other 
white  men  in  Richland  county,  S.  C.,  and,  strange  to 
say,  although  he  was  dangerous  to  white  men,  yet  he 
never  lost  the  respect  he  had  for  colored  people  in  his 
boyhood  days..  He  ate,  drank  and  slept  among  colored 
people  after  he  was  a  grown  man,  and  in  many  cases 
when  other  white  men,  who  were  called  patrols,  caught 
colored  people  away  from  home  without  tickets,  and 
were  about  to  whip  them,  Mr.  Brown  would  ride  up 
and  say,  "  The  first  man  who  raises  a  whip  at  one 
of  those  negroes  I  will  blow  his  brains  out."  Know 
ing  that  he  would  shoot  a  man  as  quick  as  he  would 
a  bird,  even  if  ten  patrols  were  together,  when  Mr. 
Brown  made  such  threats,  they  never  would  attempt 
to  whip  the  negroes. 

Mr.  Brown  owned  a  plantation  with  forty  slaves  on 
it;  his  good  treatment  of  them  enabled  him  to  get 


77 

more  work  out  of  them  than  most  owners  got  out  of 
their  slaves.  His  slaves  thought  so  much  of  their 
"  Massa  Manning,"  as  they  used  to  call  him,  that 
they  did  everything  in  their  power  to  please  him. 
But  while  he  was  so  good  to  colored  people,  he  was 
dangerous  to  many  of  the  white  people  and  feared  by 
them. 

A  man  by  the  name  of  Peter  Gafney  fought  a  duel 
with  his  brother-in-law,  whose  name  was  Dr.  Ray ; 
the  former,  who  was  quite  a  marksman,  was  killed  by 
the  latter,  who  was  considered  a  very  poor  one.  This 
led  many  who  were  in  favor  of  Mr.  Gafney  to  feel 
that  there  had  been  foul  play  by  Dr.  Ray,  the  con 
testant.  Mr.  Brown,  who  acted  as  a  second  for  Mr. 
Gafney  in  the  fight,  felt  the  loss  of  his  old  friend 
very  deeply.  A  short  time  after  this  he  sent  a  chal 
lenge  to  Dr.  Ray,  stating,  "You  may  either  meet  me 
at  a  certain  time,  on  the  spot  where  you  killed  P.  T. 
Gafney,  for  a  duel,  or  I  will  shoot  you  on  first  sight 
wherever  I  meet  you.  Yours,  M.  Brown. " 

But  Dr.  Ray  refused  in  the  face  .of  the  threat  to 
accept  the  challenge.  Knowing  the  disposition  of 
Mr.  Brown,  the  people  in  that  county  were  inflamed 
with  excitement,  because  the  doctor  was  liable  at  any 
moment  while  riding  in  the  road  to  be  killed.  In  fear 
of  meeting  Mr.  Brown,  the  doctor  gave  up  visiting 
the  most  of  his  sick  patients,  and  almost  wholly  con 
fined  himself  to  his  large  plantation.  At  the  same 
time  Mr.  Brown  was  closely  watched  by  his  friends  to 
keep  him  from  waylaying  the  doctor. 

A  short  time  after  this  threat  Mr.  Brown  com 
menced  to  drink  harder  than  ever,  so  that  at  times  he 
did  not  know  his  own  family.  But  the  providence  of 


78 

God  was  slowly  leading  Mr.  Brown  through  the  un 
known  paths  to  a  sudden  change  of  life,  as  we  shall 
soon  see. 

Mr.  Brown's  family  consisted  of  a  wife,  one  child, 
and  Aunt  Betty,  the  old  colored  woman  who  had 
brought  him  up.  She  was  the  only  mother  he  knew, 
for  his  own  mother  had  died  when  he  was  an  infant, 
and  her  dying  request  had  been  that  mamma  Betty, 
the  old  woman,  should  bring  up  this  boy,  who  was  an 
only  child ;  and  when  Mr.  Brown  got  married  he 
took  Aunt  Betty  into  his  family  and  told  her  she 
need  not  do  any  work  only  what  she  chose  to  do,  and 
that  he  would  take  care  of  her  the  balance  of  her 
days.  And  Mrs.  Brown  regarded  Aunt  Betty  more  as  a 
mother-in-law  than  as  a  negress  servant.  Sometimes 
when  Mr.  Brown  would  not  listen  to  his  wife,  he 
would  to  his  mamma  Betty,  when  he  was  sober 
enough  to  know  her.  One  afternoon,  while  Mr. 
Brown  was  in  one  of  those  drunken  fits,  he  went  into 
his  bedroom  and  lay  down  across  the  bed,  talking  to 
himself.  His  wife  went  in  to  speak  to  him,  but  as 
she  entered  he  jumped  up  and  got  his  loaded  double 
barrelled  gun  and  threatened  to  shoot  her.  Fright 
ened  at  this,  she  ran  out  of  the  room  and  screamed 
saying,  "0,  my  God,  mamma  Betty,  please  go  in  and 
speak  to  your  Massa  Manning,  for  he  threatened  to 
shoot  me."  With  that  old  familiar  confidence  in  one 
who  had  often  listened  to  her  advice,  Aunt  Betty 
went  into  the  house  and  to  the  room  where  she  found 
Mr.  Brown  lying  across  the  bed,  with  the  gun  by  his 
side.  On  entering  the  room,  as  she  was  advancing 
toward  the  bed,  she  said,  "  Massa  Manning,  what  is 
the  matter  with  you  ?  You  naughty  boy,  what  is  the 


79 

matter  ?"  On  saying  these  words,  before  she  had 
reached  the  bed,  Mr.  Brown  rose,  with  the  gun  in 
hand,  and  discharged  the  contents  of  both  barrels  at 
the  old  woman  ;  she  dropped  instantly  to  the  floor. 
Mr.  Brown  lay  across  the  bed  as  before,  with  the  gun 
by  his  side,  talking  to  himself,  and  soon  dropped  to 
sleep.  Mrs.  Brown  fainted  away  several  times  under 
the  excitement. 

Aunt  Betty  lived  about  an  hour.  Soon  after  she 
had  been  shot  she  wanted  to  see  Mr.  Brown,  but 
when  told  that  she  could  not,  she  said,  "  0,  my  Lord, 
T  wanted  to  see  my  child  before  I  die,  and  I  know 
that  he  would  want  to  see  his  mamma  Betty,  too,  be 
fore  she  leaves  him."  During  the  time  she  lived  she 
prayed  for  Mr.  Brown,  and  requested  that  he  would 
change  his  course  of  life,  become  a  Christian,  and 
meet  her  in  heaven.  After  singing  one  of  her  famil 
iar  hymns,  Aunt  Betty  said  to 'some  one  who  stood  by 
her  bedside,  "  I  want  you  to  tell  Massa  Manning  that 
he  must  not  feel  bad  for  what  he  did  to  me,  because 
I  know  that  if  he  was  in  his  right  mind  he  would  not 
hurt  me  any  more  than  he  would  himself.  Tell  him 
that  I  have  prayed  to  the  Lord  for  him  that  he  may 
be  a  good  boy,  and  I  want  him  to  promise  that  he  will 
be  a  Christian  and  meet  me  in  heaven."  With  these 
words  Aunt  Betty  became  speechless,  dying  a  few 
moments  afterwards.  The  doctor  was  sent  for,  but 
had  to  come  from  such  a  distance  that  she  died  before 
he  reached  there. 

When  Mr.  Brown  awoke  from  his  drunken  state  in 
the  night,  and  learned  the  sad  news  of  Aunt  Betty's 
death,  of  which  he  had  been  the  cause,  he  clasped  his 
hands  and  cried  out,  "  What  I  is  it  possible  that  my 


80 

mamma  Betty,  the  only  mother  I  ever  knew,  was 
killed  by  my  hands  ?"  He  ran  into  the  room  where 
the  corpse  was  and  clasped  the  remains  of  the  old 
negress  in  his  arms  and  cried,  "  Mamma  Betty, 
mamma  Betty,  please  speak  to  me  as  you  used  to." 
But  that  voice  was  hushed  in  death. 

The  doctor,  overseer  and  others  tried  to  quiet  him, 
but  they  could  not.  That  night  Mr.  Brown  took  the 
train  to  Columbia,  the  capital  of  South  Carolina,  and 
gave  himself  up  to  the  law  next  day.  He  was  told 
that  it  was  all  right ;  that  the  old  negress  was  his 
slave.  But  Mr.  Brown  was  dissatisfied  ;  he  came 
back  home  and  invited  all  the  white  neighbors  and 
slaves  to  Aunt  Betty's  funeral,  in  which  he  and  his 
family  took  part.  After  the  excitement  was  over  the 
message  of  Aunt  Betty  was  delivered  to  Mr.  Brown  ; 
he  was  told  that  her  last  request  had  been  that  he 
would  meet  her  in  heaven.  He  answered,  "  I  will." 
Mr.  Brown  then  and  there  took  an  oath  that  he 
would  drink  no  more  strong  drinks.  He  then  disposed 
of  his  slaves,  but  how  I  did  not  learn.  Soon  after  this 
he  was  converted  and  became  one  of  the  ablest 
preachers  in  Richland  county,  S.  C.  Mr.  Brown's 
conversion  freed  Dr.  Ray  from  his  threat.  The  doc 
tor  was  so  glad  of  this  that  he  paid  quite  a  large  sum 
towards  Mr.  Brown's  salary  for  preaching. 


CHAPTER  ITI— MY  EXPERIENCE  IN  THE 
CIVIL  WAR. 


My  knowledge  of  the  Civil  War,  extends  from  the 
time  when  the  first  gun  was  fired  on  Fort  Sumter  in 
April,  1861,  to  the  close  of  the  War. 

While  the  slaves  were  not  pressed  into  the  Confed 
erate  service  as  soldiers,  yet  they  were  used  in  all  the 
slave-holding  states  at  war  points,  not  only  to  build  for 
tifications,  but  also  to  work  on  vessels  used  in  the  war. 

The  slaves  were  gathered  in  each  state,  anywhere 
from  6000  to  8000  or  more,  from  different  plantations, 
carried  to  some  centre  and  sent  to  various  war  points 
in  the  state. 

It  would  be  impossible  to  describe  the  intense  ex 
citement  which  prevailed  among  the  Confederates  in 
their  united  efforts  to  raise  troops  to  meet  the  Union 
forces.  They  were  loud  in  their  expressions  of  the 
certainty  of  victory. 

Many  of  the  poor  white  men  were  encouraged  by  the 
promise  of  from  three  to  five  negroes  to  each  man  who 
would  serve  in  the  Confederate  service,  when  the  Con 
federate  government  should  have  gained  the  victory. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  negroes  were  threatened 
with  an  increase  of  the  galling  yoke  of  slavery. 
These  threats  were  made  with  significant  expressions, 
and  the  strongest  assumption  that  the  negro  was  the 
direct  cause  of  the  war. 

HOW  SLAVES   WERE  GATHERED  AND  CARRIED    TO 
WAR   POINTS. 

No  sooner  had  the  war  commenced  in  the  spring 

(81) 


82 

of  1861,  than  the  slaves  were  gathered  from  the 
various  plantations,  and  shipped  by  freight  cars, 
or  boats,  to  some  centre,  and  apportioned  out  and 
sent  to  work  at  different  war  points.  I  do  not  know 
just  how  many  slaves  the  Confederate  Government 
required  each  master  to  furnish  for  its  service,  but  I 
know  that  15  of  the  465  slaves  on  my  master's,  Col. 
M.  R.  Singleton's,  plantation,  were  sent  to  work  on 
fortificatipns  each  year  during  the  war. 

The  war  had  been  going  on  two  years  before  my 
turn  came.  In  the  summer  of  1863  with  thousands 
of  other  negroes,  gathered  from  the  various  parts  of 
the  state,  I  was  freighted  to  the  city  of  Charleston, 
South  Carolina,  and  the  group  in  which  my  lot  fell 
was  sent  to  Sullivan's  Island.  We  were  taken  on  a 
boat  from  the  city  of  Charleston,  and  landed  in  a 
little  village,  situated  nearly  opposite  Fort  Sumter, 
on  this  island.  Leaving  behind  us  Fort  Moultrie, 
Fort  Beauregard,  and  several  small  batteries,  we 
marched  down  the  white  sandy  beach  of  the  island, 
below  Fort  Marshall,  to  the  very  extreme  point,  where 
a  little  inlet  of  water  divides  Sullivan's  from  Long 
Island,  and  here  we  were  quartered  under  Capt. 
Charles  Haskell. 

From  this  point  on  the  island,  turning  our  faces 
northward,  with  Morris  Island  northwest  of  us,  and 
looking  directly  north  out  into  the  channel,  we  saw  a 
number  of  Union  gun  boats,  like  a  flock  of  black 
sheep  feeding  on  a  plain  of  grass ;  while  the  men 
pacing  their  decks  looked  like  faithful  shepherds 
watching  the  flock.  While  we  negroes  remained  upon 
Sullivan's  Island,  we  watched  every  movement  of  the 
Union  fleet,  with  hearts  of  joy  to  think  that  they  were 


83 

a  part  of  the  means  by  which  the  liberty  of  four  and 
one-half  millions  of  slaves  was  to  be  effected  in  ac 
cordance  with  the  emancipation  proclamation  made 
the  January  preceding.  We  kept  such  close  watch 
upon  them  that  some  one  among  us,  whether  it  was 
night  or  day,  would  be  sure  to  see  the  discharge  of  a 
shot  from  the  gun  boat  before  the  sound  of  the  report 
was  heard.  During  that  summer  there  was  no  en 
gagement  between  the  Union  fleet  and  the  Confeder 
ates  at  that  point  in  South  Carolina.  The  Union 
gun  boats,  however,  fired  occasional  shots  over  us,  six 
miles,  into  the  city  of  Charleston.  They  also  fired  a 
few  shells  into  a  marsh  between  Sullivan's  Island  and 
Mount  Pleasant,  but  with  no  damage  to  us. 

WHAT  WORK  THE  NEGROES  DID  ON  THE  ISLA.ND. 

After  we  had  reached  the  island,  our  company  was 
divided.  One  part  was  quartered  at  one  end  of  the 
Island,  around  Fort  Moultrie,  and  we  were  quartered 
at  the  other  end,  at  Fort  Marshall.  Our  work  was 
to  repair  forts,  build  batteries,  mount  guns,  and 
arrange  them.  While  the  men  were  engaged  at  such 
work,  the  boys  of  my  age,  namely,  thirteen,  and  some 
older,  waited  on  officers  and  carried  water  for  the 
men  at  work,  and  in  general  acted  as  messengers  be 
tween  different  points  on  the  island. 

ENGAGEMENT  ON  LONG  ISLAND. 

Though  there  was  no  fighting  on  Sullivan's  Island 
during  my  stay  there,  Confederate  soldiers  at  times 
crossed  the  inlet  from  Sullivan's  to  Long  Island,  in 
the  night  and  engaged  in  skirmishes  with  Union 
soldiers,  who  had  entered  the  upper  end  of  that  island 


84 

and  camped  there.  Whether  these  Confederate 
scouts  were  ever  successful  in  routing  the  Union 
forces  on  the  island  or  not  I  have  never  learned,  but 
I  know  that  they  were  several  times  repulsed  with 
considerable  loss. 

NEGROES  ESCAPE. 

The  way  the  Confederates  came  to  the  knowledge 
that  Union  soldiers  were  on  Long  Island  was  that 
the  group  of  negroes  who  preceded  us  on  Sullivan's 
Island  had  found  out  that  Union  soldiers  were  camp 
ing  on  the  upper  end  of  Long  Island.  So  one  night 
quite  a  number  of  them  escaped  by  swimming  across 
the  inlet  that  divides  Sullivan's  Island  and  Long 
Island,  and  succeeded  in  reaching  the  Union  line. 

The  next  day  it  was  discovered  that  they  had 
swam  across  the  inlet,  and  the  following  night  they 
were  pursued  by  a  number  of  Confederate  scouts  who 
crossed  in  a  flat  boat.  Instead  of  the  capture  of  the 
negroes,  who  would  have  been  victims  of  the  most 
cruel  death,  the  Confederate  scouts  were  met  by 
soldiers  from  the  Union  line,  and  after  a  hot  engage, 
ment  they  were  repulsed,  as  they  usually  were. 

BUILDING  A  BATTERY  ON  LONG  ISLAND. 

Finally  the  Confederates  took  a  large  number  of 
the  group  of  which  I  was  a  member  from  Sullivan's 
to  the  south  shore  of  Long  Island  and  there  built  a 
battery,  and  mounted  several  small  field  guns  upon 
it.  As  they  were  afraid  of  being  discovered  in  the 
daytime  we  were  obliged  to  work  on  the  battery 
nights  and  were  taken  back  to  Sullivan's  in  the  morn 
ing,  until  the  work  was  completed. 


85 

We  were  guarded  by  Confederate  soldiers  while 
building  the  battery,  as,  without  a  guard  it  would 
have  been  easy  for  any  of  us  to  have  reached  the 
Union  line  on  the  north  end  of  Long  Island.  Sulli 
van's  Island  was  about  five  miles  long. 

A  NEGRO  SERVANT  MURDERED. 

One  of  the  most  heartless  deeds  committed  while  I 
was  on  Sullivan's  Island,  was  that  of  the  murder  of  a 
negro  boy  by  his  master,  a  Confederate  officer  to 
whom  the  boy  had  been  a  body  servant.  What  the 
rank  of  this  officer  was  I  am  not  sure,  but  I  think 
he  was  a  Major,  and  that  he  was  from  the  state  of 
Georgia.  It  was  a  common  thing  for  southern  men 
to  carry  dirks,  especially  during  the  war.  This 
officer  had  one,  and  for  something  the  boy  displeased 
him  in,  he  drew  the  knife  and  made  a  fatal  stab  be 
tween  the  boy's  collar  bone  and  left  shoulder. 
As  the  victim  fell  at  the  brutal  master's  feet, 
we  negroes  who  had  witnessed  the  fiendish  and 
cowardly  act  upon  a  helpless  member  of  our  race,  ex 
pected  an  immediate  interference  from  the  hand  of 
justice  in  some  form  or  other.  But  we  looked  and 
waited  in  vain,  for  the  horrible  deed  did  not  seem 
to  have  changed  the  manner  of  those  in  authority  in 
the  least,  but  they  rather  treated  it  as  coolly  as 
though  nothing  had  happened.  Finding  that  the 
Confederates  failed  to  lay  the  hand  of  justice  upon 
the  officer,  we,  with  our  vague  ideas  of  moral  justice, 
and  with  our  extreme  confidence  that  God  would 
somehow  do  more  for  the  oppressed  negroes  than  he 
would  ordinarily  for  any  other  people,  anxiously 
waited  a  short  time  for  some  token  of  Divine  ven- 


86 

geance,  but  as  we  found  that  no  such  token  as  we  de 
sired,  in  the  heat  of  our  passion,  came,  we  finally 
concluded  to  wait  God's  way  and  time,  as  to  how, 
and  when  this,  as  every  other  wrong  act,  should  be 
visited  with  his  unfailing  justice. 

But  aside  from  this  case  we  fared  better  on  these 
fortifications  than  we  had  at  home  on  the  plantations. 
This  was  the  case  at  least  with  those  of  us  who  were 
on  Sullivan's  Island.  Our  work  in  general  on  the 
fortifications  was  not  hard,  we  had  a  great  deal  of 
spare  time,  and  although  we  knew  that  our  work  in 
the  Confederate  service  was  against  our  liberty,  yet 
we  were  delighted  to  be  in  military  service. 

We  felt  an  exalted  pride  that,  having  spent  a  little 
time  at  these  war  points,  we  had  gained  some  knowl 
edge  which  would  put  us  beyond  our  fellow  negroes 
at  home  on  the  plantations,  while  they  would  increase 
our  pride  by  crediting  us  with  far  more  knowledge 
than  it  was  possible  for  us  to  have  gained. 

Our  daily  rations  from  the  Commissary  was  a  quart 
of  rice  or  hard-tack,  and  a  half  pound  of  salt  pork  or 
corn-beef. 

The  change  from  the  cabins  and  from  the  labor  on 
the  old  plantations  so  filled  our  cup  of  joy  that  we 
were  sorry  when  the  two  months  of  our  stay  on  the 
island  was  ended. 

At  the  end  of  about  two  months,  I,  with  the  rest  of 
my  fellow  negroes  of  that  group,  was  sent  back  to  the 
plantation  again,  while  others  took  our  places. 

MY   EXPERIENCE    IN    FORT    SUMTER. 

In  the  summer  of  1864,  when  I  was  in  my  four 
teenth  year,  another  call  was  made  for  negro  laborers 


87 

for  the  Confederate  government,  and  fifteen  from  our 
plantation,  including  myself,  with  thousands  from 
other  plantations,  were  sent  down  to  Charleston 
again. 

There  the  negroes  were  apportioned  in  groups  to  be 
sent  to  the  different  fortifications.  My  lot  fell  among 
the  group  of  three  hundred  and  sixty,  who  were  as 
signed  to  Fort  Sumter.  I  shall  never  forget  with 
what  care  they  had  to  move  in  carrying  us  in  a 
steamer  from  the  government  wharf  in  Charleston  to 
John's  island  wharf,  on  account  of  the  network  of 
torpedo  mines  in  Charleston  Harbor. 

From  John's  island  wharf  they  carried  us  in  row- 
boats  to  Fort  Sumter,  and,  as  those  boats  could  not 
carry  many,  it  took  all  night  to  convey  us  with  other 
freightage  to  Fort  Sumter. 

The  steamer  which  carried  us  from  Charleston  to 
John's  island  wharf  had  to  run  at  night.  Indeed 
every  move  the  Confederates  made  about  there  near 
the  close  of  the  war  had  to  be  made  at  night  because 
the  Yankees  on  gunboats  outside  the  channel  and 
those  on  Morris  island  kept  so  close  a  watch  it  was 
very  dangerous  to  convey  us  from  John's  island 
wharf  to  Fort  Sumter  because  'the  oars  dipping  into 
the  salt  water  at  night  made  sparks  like  fire,  and  thus 
the  Yankees  on  Morris  island  were  able  to  see  us.  In 
deed  their  shots  oftentimes  took  effect. 

Many  of  the  negroes  were  killed.  Of  the  fifteen 
from  our  plantation,  one  boy  of  about  my  age  was 
struck  by  a  parrot  shell  while  climbing  from  the  boat 
into  the  fort.  We  were  told  of  the  perils  we  were  to 
meet,  both  before  and  after  we  reached  our  destina 
tion.  For  one  of  the  most  disheartening  things  was 


88 

the  sad  report  of  the  survivors  of  those  whose  places 
we  were  to  fill.  As  the  rowboats  left  them  on  John's 
island  wharf  and  as  we  were  about  to  embark  they 
told  us  of  the  great  danger  to  which  we  would  be  ex 
posed, — of  the  liability  of  some  of  us  being  killed  be 
fore  we  reached  the  fort,  which  proved  true,  and  of 
how  fast  their  comrades  were  killed  in  Fort  Sumter. 
A  number,  it  was  said,  died  from  fright  before  reach 
ing  Sumter. 

THE   OFFICERS    AND    QUARTERS. 

The  officers  who  were  then  in  command  of  the  fort 
were  Capt.  J.  C.  Mitchell  and  Major  John  Johnson. 
The  name  of  the  overseer  in  charge  of  the  negroes  in 
the  fort  was  Deburgh, — whether  that  was  his  right 
name  I  can  not  say. 

Deburgh  was  a  foreigner  by  birth.  He  was  one  of 
the  most  cruel  men  I  ever  knew.  As  he  and  his 
atrocious  deeds  will  come  up  later  in  this  history,  [ 
will  say  no  more  of  him  here. 

CONDITION    OF    THE    FORT. 

Fort  Sumter,  which  previous  to  this,  had  not  only 
been  silenced  by  the  Union  forces,  but  also  partly  de 
molished,  had  but  one  gun  mounted  on  it,  on  the  west 
side.  That  cannon  we  used  to  call  the  "  Sundown 
Gun,"  because  it  was  fired  every  evening  as  the  sun 
went  down, — as  well  as  at  sunrise.  On  this  west  side 
the  Confederate  officers  and  soldiers  were  sheltered 
in  the  bomb-proof  safe  during  bombardment.  On  the 
east  side  of  the  fort,  facing  Morris  island,  opposite 
Fort  Wagner,  there  was  another  apartment  called  the 
"  Rat-hole"  in  which  we  negroes  were  quartered. 


89 


WHAT    THE   NEGROES    DID    IN    FORT    SUMTER. 

Fort  Suinter  had  been  so  badly  damaged  by  the 
Union  forces  in  1863,  that  unless  something  had  been 
done  upon  the  top,  the  continued  bombardment  which 
it  suffered  up  to  the  close  of  the  war,  would  have 
rendered  it  uninhabitable. 

The  fort  was  being  fired  upon  every  five  minutes 
with  mortar  and  parrot  shells  by  the  Yankees  from 
Morris  Island. 

The  principal  work  of  the  negroes  was  to  secure  the 
top  and  other  parts  against  the  damage  from  the 
Union  guns. 

Large  timbers  were  put  on  the  rampart  of  the  fort, 
and  boards  laid  on  them,  then  baskets,  without  bot 
toms,  about  two  feet  wide,  and  four  feet  high,  were 
put  close  together  on  the  rampart,  and  filled  with 
sand  by  the  negroes. 

The  work  could  only  be  done  at  night,  because,  be 
sides  the  bombardment  from  Fort  Wagner  which  was 
about  a  mile  or  little  less  from  us,  there  were  also 
sharp-shooters  there  who  picked  men  off  whenever 
they  showed  their  heads  on  the  rampart. 

The  mortar  and  parrot  shells  rained  alternately  up 
on  Fort  Sumter  every  five  minutes,  day  and  night,  but 
the  sharp-shooters  could  only  fire  by  day-light. 

The  negroes  were  principally  exposed  to  the  bom 
bardment.  The  only  time  the  few  Confederate 
soldiers  were  exposed  to  danger  was  while  they  were 
putting  the  Chevaldefrise  on  the  parapet  at  night. 

The  "  Chevaldefrise "  is  a  piece  of  timber  with 
wooden  spikes  pointed  with  iron,  and  used  for  defence 
on  fortifications. 

In  the  late  war  between  the   Spaniards  and  the 


90 

Americans,  the  former  used  barbed  wire  for  the  same 
purpose. 

If  my  readers  could  have  been  in  Fort  Sumter  in 
the  summer  of  1864  they  would  have  heard  the  sen 
tinel  cry,  every  five  minutes,  "  Look  out !  Mortar  !" 
Then  they  would  have  seen  the  negroes  running  about 
in  the  fort  yard  in  a  confused  state,  seeking  places  of 
safety  from  the  missile  sure  to  bring  death  to  one  or 
more  of  them.  Another  five  minutes,  and  again  the 
cry  of  the  sentinel,  "  Look  out,"  means  a  parrot  shell, 
which  is  far  more  deadly  than  is  the  mortar  because 
it  comes  so  quickly  that  one  has  no  chance  to  seek 
a  place  of  safety. 

The  next  moment  the  survivors  of  us,  expecting 
that  it  would  be  our  turn  next,  would  be  picking  up, 
here  and  there,  parts  of  the  severed  bodies  of  our 
fellow  negroes  ;  many  of  those  bodies  so  mutilated  as 
not  to  be  recognizable. 

DEBURGH,    THE    OVERSEER. 

Deburgh,  the  overseer,  of  whom  I  have  spoken,  was 
a  small  man,  of  light  complexion,  and  very  light  hair. 

If  my  readers  could  have  been  in  Fort  Sumter  in 
July,  1864,  they  would  have  seen  Deburgh  with  a 
small  bar  of  iron  or  a  piece  of  shell  in  his  hand,  forc 
ing  the  surviving  portion  of  the  negroes  back  into  line 
and  adding  to  these,  other  negroes  kept  in  the  Rat- 
hole  as  reserves  to  fill  the  places  of  those  who  were 
killed  and  wounded. 

They  would  also  have  heard  him  swearing  at  the 
top  of  his  voice,  while  forcing  the  negroes  to  rearrange 
themselves  in  line  from  the  base  of  the  fort  to  the 
top. 


91 

This  arrangement  of  the  negroes,  enabled  them  to 
sling  to  each  other  the  bags  of  sand  which  was  put  in 
the  baskets  on  the  top  of  the  fort.  My  readers  ask, 
what  was  the  sand  put  on  the  fort  for  ?  It  was  to 
smother  the  fuses  of  such  shells  as  reached  the  ram 
parts  before  bursting. 

After  the  bombardment  of  Fort  Sumter  in  1863,  by 
the  Union  forces,  its  top  of  fourteen  or  sixteen  feet 
in  thickness,  built  of  New  Hampshire  granite,  was  left 
bare.  From  that  time  all  through  1864,  the  shells  were 
so  aimed  as  to  burst  right  over  the  fort ;  and  it  was 
pieces  of  these  shells  which  flew  in  every  direction 
that  were  so  destructive. 

The  fuses  of.  many  of  these  shells  fired  on  Fort 
Sumter  did  not  burn  in  time  to  cause  the  shells  to 
burst  before  falling.  Now  as  the  shells  fell  on  the 
rampart  of  the  fort  instead  of  falling  and  bursting  on 
the  stone,  they  buried  themselves  harmlessly  in  the 
sand,  which  put  out  the  fuse  and  also  kept  them  from 
bursting. 

But  while  the  destruction  of  life  was  lessened  by 
the  sand,  it  was  fully  made  up  by  the  hand  of  that 
brute,  the  overseer.  God  only  knows  how  many 
negroes  he  killed  in  Fort  Sumter  under  the  shadow  of 
night.  Every  one  he  reached,  while  forcing  the 
slaves  back  into  working  position  after  they  had  been 
scattered  by  the  shells,  he  would  strike  on  the 
head  with  the  piece  of  iron  he  carried  in  his  hand, 
and,  as  his  victim  fell,  would  cry  out  to  some  other 
negro,  "  Put  that  fellow  in  his  box,"  meaning  his  coffin. 
Whether  the  superior  officers  in  Fort  Sumter  knew 
that  Deburgh  was  killing  the  negroes  off  almost  as 
fast  as  the  shells  from  Fort  Wagner,  or  whether  they 


92 

did  not  know,  and  did  not  care,  I  never  have  learned. 
But  I  have,  every  reason  to  believe  that  one  of  them 
at  least,  namely,  Major  John  Johnson,  would  not  have 
allowed  such  a  wholesale  slaughter,  had  he  known. 
On  the  other  hand  I  believe  that  Capt.  J.  C.  Mitchell 
was  not  only  mean  enough  to  have  allowed  it,  but 
that  he  was  fully  as  heartless  himself. 

Whatever  became  of  Deburgh,  whether  he  was 
killed  in  Fort  Sumter  or  not,  I  never  knew. 

OUR    SUPERIOR   OFFICERS. 

The  two  officers  in  command  of  Fort  Sumter  in 
July  of  1864  were  Capt.  J.  C.  Mitchell,  and  Major 
John  Johnson. 

Major  Johnson  was  as  kind,  gentle,  and  humane  to 
the  negroes  as  could  have  been  expected. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  actions  of  Capt.  Mitchell 
were  harsh  and  very  cruel.  He  had  a  bitter  hatred 
toward  the  Yankees,  and  during  the  rain  of  shells  on 
Fort  Sumter,  he  sought  every  opportunity  to  expose 
the  negroes  to  as  much  danger  as  he  dared. 

I  remember  that  one  night  Capt.  Mitchell  ordered  us 
outside  of  Fort  Sumter  to  a  projection  of  the  stone- 
bed  upon  which  the  Fort  was  built,  right  in  front  of 
Fort  Wagner.  At  that  place  we  were  in  far  greater 
danger  from  the  deadly  missiles  of  the  Union  forces 
than  we  were  exposed  to  on  the  inside  of  Sumter,  and 
I  could  see  no  other  reasons  for  his  ordering  us  out 
side  of  the  fort  that  night  than  that  we  might  be 
killed  off  faster. 

It  seems  that  during  the  incessant  firing  on  Fort 
Sumter  the  officers  held  a  consultation  as  to  whether 
it  was  not  best  to  evacuate  the  fort.  It  was  at  this 


93 

time  that  it  was  rumored, — a  rumor  that  we  had  every 
reason  to  believe, — that  Capt.  Mitchell  plotted  to 
lock  us  negroes  up  in  our  quarters  in  Sumter,  known 
as  the  Rat  hole ;  and  put  powder  to  it  and  arrange  it 
so  that  both  the  negroes  and  the  Yankees  should  be 
blown  up,  when  the  latter  should  have  taken  posses 
sion  after  the  evacuation  of  the  fort  by  the  Confeder 
ates. 

But  we  learned  that  Major  John  Johnson,  who  has 
since  become  an  Episcopal  minister,  in  Charleston, 
S.  C.,  wholly  refused  to  agree  with  Capt.  Mitchell  in 
such  a  barbarous  and  cowardly  act,  and,  as  though 
Providence  were  watching  over  the  innocent  and  op 
pressed  negroes,  and  over  the  Yankees  as  well,  be 
cause  they  were  fighting  in  a  righteous  cause,  Capt. 
Mitchell's  career  and  further  chances  of  carrying  out 
his  cruel  intentions  were  cut  short.  He  was  mortally 
wounded  by. the  sharp-shooters  of  Fort  Wagner,  on  the 
14th  of  July,  1864,  and  died  four  hours  afterwards. 

OUR    RATIONS    IN    SUMTER. 

The  working  forces  of  negroes  in  Sumter  with  the 
exception  of  the  boys  who  carried  messages  to  the 
different  parts  of  the  fort  day  and  night,  were  locked 
up  days,  and  turned  out  nights,  to  work.  We  drew 
our  rations  of  hard-tack  and  salt  pork  twice  a  day ; 
mornings  when  we  ceased  work  and  turned  in  for  the 
day,  and  again,  between  three  and  four  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon,  so  as  to  have  supper  eaten  in  time  to  goto 
work  at  dark. 

We  often  ate  our  salt  pork  raw  with  the  hard-tack, 
as  there  were  no  special  means  of  cooking  in  the 
negroes'  apartment.  We  were  not  only  in  danger, 


94 

while  at  work,  from  the  continued  raim  of  shells,  but 
oftentimes  when  we  were  put  in  line  to  draw  our 
rations  some  of  us  were  killed  or  wounded. 

I  canuot  say  how  they  got  fresh  water  in  Fort 
Sumter,  as  I  do  not  remember  seeing  any  brought 
there  in  boats,  neither  did  I  notice  any  conveniences 
there  for  the  catching  of  rain  water. 

The  water  we  negroes  used  was  kept  in  large  hogs 
heads  with  coal  tar  in  them  ;  I  do  not  know  what  the 
tar  was  put  in  the  water  for  unless  it  was  for  our 
health.  The  "  rat-hole"  into  which  we  were  locked, 
was  like  a  sweat  box  ;  it  was  so  hot  and  close,  that, 
although  we  were  exposed  to  death  by  shells  when 
we  were  turned  out  to  work,  we  were  glad  to  get  into 
the  fresh  air. 

We  had  little  cups  in  which  they  used  to  give  us 
whiskey  mornings  when  we  went  in,  and  again  when 
we  were  going  out  to  work  at  night. 

I  don't  know  how  many  of  the  forty  survivors  of 
the  three  hundred  and  sixty  of  us  who  were  carried 
into  the  Fort  in  the  summer  of  1864  besides  myself 
are  still  alive.  But  if  there  are  any  with  the  keen 
tenderness  of  a  negro,  they  cannot  help  joining  me 
in  an  undying  sense  of  gratitude  to  Major  John  John 
son,  not  only  for  his  kind  and  gentle  dealings  with  us 
which  meant  so  much  to  a  negro  in  the  days  of  slavery, 
but  also  for  his  humane  protection,  which  saved  us 
from  some  of  the  danger  from  shells  to  which  we 
were  exposed  in  Sumter. 

A  short  time  after  Capt.  J.  C.  Mitchell  had  been 
killed,  Major  Johnson  was  dangerously  wounded  in 
the  head  by  Apiece  of  shell. 


95 

MY    LAST    NIGHT  IN    FORT  SUMTEB   AND    THE    GLORIOUS 
END    OF    THE    WAR. 

During  the  time  we  spent  in  Fort  Sumter  we  had 
not  seen  a  clear  day  or  night.  In  harmony  with  the 
continual  danger  by  which  we  were  surrounded,  the 
very  atmosphere  wore  the  pall  of  death ;  for  it  was 
always  rainy  and  cloudy.  The  mutilated  bodies  of  the 
negroes,  mingled  with  the  black  mud  and  water  in 
the  fort  yard,  added  to  the  awfuluess  of  the  scene. 
Pieces  of  bombshells  and  other  pieces  of  iron,  and 
also  large  southern  pine  timbers  were  scattered  all  over 
the  yard  of  the  fort.  There  was  also  a  little  lime 
house  in  the  middle  of  the  yard,  into  which  we  were 
warned  not  to  go  when  seeking  places  of  safety  from 
the  deadly  missiles  at  the  cry  of  the  sentinel. 

The  orders  were  that  we  should  get  as  near  the 
centre  of  the  fort  yard  as  possible  and  lie  down.  The 
reason  for  this  was  that  the  shells  which  were,  fired 
upon  Sumter  were  so  measured  that  they  would  burst 
in  the  air,  and  the  pieces  would  generally  fly  toward 
the  sides  of  the  fort.  But  the  orders  were  not  strict 
ly  carried  out,  because,  at  the  warning  cries  of  the 
sentinel,  we  became  confused.  That  night,  at  the  cry 
of  the  sentinel,  I  ran  and  lay  down  on  one  of  the 
large  southern  pine  timbers,  and  several  of  my  fellow 
negroes  followed  and  piled  in  upon  me.  Their  weight 
was  so  heavy  that  I  cried  out  as  for  life.  The  sense 
of  that  crush  I  feel  at  certain  times  even  now. 

At  the  next  report  of  a  shell  I  ran  toward  the  lime 
house,  but  some  one  tripped  me  up,  and,  by  the  time 
I  had  got  to  my  feet  again,  twelve  or  thirteen  others 
were  crowded  into  it.  Another  negro  and  I  reached 
the  doorway,  but  we  were  not  more  than  there  before 


96 

a  mortar  shell  came  crushing  down  upon  the  little 
lime  house,  and  all  within  were  so  mangled  that  their 
bodies  were  not  recognizable. 

Only  we  two  were  saved.  My  companion  had  one  of 
his  legs  broken,  and  a  piece  of  shell  had  wounded  me 
over  my  right  eye  and  cut  open  my  under  lip.  At 
the  moment  I  was  wounded  I  was  not  unconscious, 
but  I  did  not  know  what  had  hurt  me.  I  became 
almost  blind  from  the  effect  of  my  wounds,  but  not 
directly  after  I  was  wounded,  and  I  felt  no  pain  for 
a  day  or  so.  With  other  wounded  I  was  taken  to 
the  bombproof  in  the  fort.  I  shall  never  forget  this 
first  and  last  visit  to  the  hospital  department.  To 
witness  the  rough  handling  of  the  wounded  patients, 
to  see  them  thrown  on  a  table  as  one  would  a  piece 
of  beef,  and  to  see  the  doctor  use  his  knife  and  saw, 
cutting  off  a  leg,  or  arm,  and  sometimes  both,  with 
as  much  indifference  as  if  he  were  simply  cutting  up 
beef,  and  to  hear  the  doctor  say,  of  almost  every 
other  one  of  these  victims,  after  a  leg  or  an  arm  was 
amputated,  "  Put  that  fellow  in  his  box,"  meaning 
his  coffin,  was  an  awful  experience.  After  the  sur 
geon  had  asked  to  whom  I  belonged,  he  .dressed  my 
wounds. 

My  readers  will  remember  that  I  stated  that  no 
big  boat  could  run  to  Fort  Sumter  at  that  time,  on 
account  of  the  bombardment.  We  had  to  be  con 
veyed  back  to  John's  Island  wharf  in  rowboats, 
which  was  the  nearest  distance  a  steamer  could  go  to 
Fort  Sumter.  • 

As  one  of  those  rowboats  was  pushed  out  to  take 
the  dead  and  wounded  from  the  fort,  and  as  the  for 
mer  were  put  into  the  boat,  which  was  generally  done 


97 

before  they  put  in  the  latter,  fortunately,  just  before 
the  wounded  were  put  in,  a  Parrott  shell  was  fired 
into  it  from  Fort  Wagner  by  the  Union  forces,  which 
sunk  both  the  boat  and  the  coffins,  with  their  re 
mains. 

My  readers  would  ask  how  the  Confederates  dis 
posed  of  the  negroes  who  were  killed  in  Fort  Sumter. 
Those  who  were  not  too  badly  mutilated  were  sent 
over  to  the  city  of  Charleston  and  were  buried  in  a 
place  which  was  set  apart  to  bury  the  negroes.  But 
others,  who  were  so  badly  cut  up  by  shells,  were  put 
into  boxes,  with  pieces  of  iron  in  them,  and  carried 
out  a  little  away  from  Sumter  and  thrown  overboard. 

I  was  then  taken  to  John's  Island  wharf,  and  from 
there  to  the  city  of  Charleston  in  a  steamer,  and  car 
ried  to  Doctor  Rag's  hospital,  where  I  stopped  until 
September.  Then  I  was  sent  back  home  to  my  mas 
ter's  plantation.  Quoting  the  exact  words  of  Major 
John  Johnson,  a  Confederate  officer  under  whom  I 
was  a  part  of  the  time  at  the  above-named  place,  I 
would  say  :  "July  7th,  Fort  Sumter's  third  great  bom 
bardment,  lasting  sixty  days  and  nights,  with  a  total 
of  14,666  rounds  fired  at  the  fort,  with  eighty-one 
casualties." 

WHAT    TOOK     PLACE    AFTER. 

I  said  that  after  I  got  well  enough  to  travel  I  was 
sent  back  home  to  my  master's  plantation,  about  a 
hundred  miles  from  the  city  of  Charleston,  in  central 
South  Carolina.  This  was  in  September  of  1864, 
and  I,  with  the  rest  of  my  fellow-negroes  on  this 
extensive  plantation,  and  with  other  slaves  all  over 
the  South,  were  held  in  suspense  waiting  the  final 


98 

outcome  of  the  emancipation  proclamation,  issued 
January,  1863,  but  as  the  war  continued,  it  had  not 
taken  effect  until  the  spring  of  1865. 

Here  I  had  less  work  than  before  the  war,  for  the 
nearer  the  war  approached  its  close  the  less  the  slaves 
had  to  do,  as  the  masters  were  at  the  end  of  their  wits 
what  to  do.  In  the  latter  part  of  1864  Gen.  Sher 
man,  with  his  army 'of  a  hundred  thousand  men  and 
almost  as  many  stragglers,  covered  the  space  of  about 
sixty  miles  in  width  while  marching  from  Georgia 
through  South  Carolina.  The  army  camped  around 
Columbia,  the  capital  of  South  Carolina,  for  a  short 
time.  Early  in  the  spring  of  1865  the  commissary 
building  first  took  fire,  which  soon  spread  to  such 
extent  that  the  whole  city  of  Columbia  was  con 
sumed  ;  just  a  few  houses  on  the  suburbs  were  left. 

The  commissary  building  was  set  on  fire  by  one  of 
the  two  parties,  but  it  was  never  fully  settled  whether 
it  was  done  by  Gen.  Sherman's  men  or  by  the  Confed 
erates,  who  might  have,  as  surmised  by  some,  as 
they  had  to  evacuate  the  city,  set  it  on  fire  to  keep 
Gen.  Sherman's  men  from  getting  the  food.  After 
this  Columbia  was  occupied  by  a  portion  of  Sher 
man's  men,  while  the  others  marched  on  toward 
North  Carolina. 

THE     GLORIOUS      END. 

In  closing  this  brief  sketch  of  my  experiences  in 
the  war,  I  would  ask  my  readers  to  go  back  of  the 
war  a  little  with  me.  I  want  to  show  them  a  few  of 
the  dark  pictures  of  the  slave  system.  Hark  !  I  hear 
the  clanking  of  the  ploughman's  chains  in  the  fields; 
I  hear  the  tramping  of  the  feet  of  the  hoe-hands.  I 


99 

.hear  the  coarse  and  harsh  voice  of  the  negro  driver 
and  the  shrill  voice  of  the  white  overseer  swearing  at 
the  slaves.  I  hear  the  swash  of  the  lash  upon  the  backs 
of  the  unfortunates  ;  I  hear  them  crying  for  mercy 
from  the  merciless.  Amidst  these  cruelties  I  hear  the 
fathers  and  mothers  pour  out  their  souls  in  prayer, — 
"  0,  Lord,  how  long  !"  and  their  cries  not  only  awaken 
the  sympathy  of  their  white  brothers  and  sisters  of 
the  North,  but  also  mightily  trouble  the  slave  mas 
ters  of  the  South. 

The  firing  on  Fort  Sumter,  in  April  of  1861, 
brought  hope  to  the  slaves  that  the  long  looked  for 
year  of  jubilee  was  near  at  hand.  And  though  the 
South  won  victory  after  victory,  and  the  Union 
reeled  to  and  fro  like  a  drunken  man,  the  negroes 
never  lost  hope,  but  faithfully  supported  the  Union 
cause  with  their  prayers. 

Thank  God,  where  Christianity  exists  slavery  can 
not  exist. 

At  last  came  freedom.  And  what  Joy  it  brought! 
I  am  now  standing,  in  imagination,  on  a  high  place 
just  outside  the  city  of  Columbia,  in  the  spring  of 
1865.  The  stars  and  stripes  float  in  the  air.  The 
sun  is  just  making  its  appearance  from  behind  the 
hills,  and  throwing  its  beautiful  light  upon  green 
bush  and  tree.  The  mocking  birds  and  jay  birds  sing 
this  morning  more  sweetly  than  ever  before.  Beneath 
the  flag  of  liberty  there  is  congregated  a  perfect  net 
work  of  the  emancipated  slaves  from  the  different 
plantations,  their  swarthy  faces,  from  a  distance, 
looking  like  the  smooth  water  of  a  black  sea.  Their 
voices,  like  distant  thunder,  rend  the  air, — 


100 

"  Old  master  gone  away,  and  the  darkies  all  at  home, 
There  must  be   now  the  kingdom   come  and  the  year  of 
jubilee." 

The  old  men  and  women,  bent  over  by  reason  of  age 
and  servitude,  bound  from  their  staves,  praising  God 
for  deliverance. 


s?? 


